A Study of Twins
by Kirii
Summary: Ratchet’s research team has just been given the chance to study a newly-sparked set of twins. However, someone on the team has to raise them and Ratchet finds out the hard way that raising twins is not as easy as it's made out to be. AU, contains slash
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note: **This is the direct result of being nostalgic with my sisters. The things that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe will be doing in this story is taken from things those two did when they were younger. Feel for poor Ratchet. I know I do. 99;; This story is definitely AU, but loosely derived from G1  
**Warnings: **Slash. Definitely, this is AU. And I am totally going to be putting several of our favorite mechs through a hell like they'd never imagine. XD;;  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own them. I just like to borrow them from time to time to act on some of my more sadistic urges._

Prologue

"Wheeljack, no," Ratchet said, standing firm.

"They need to be raised by a pair," the engineer pointed out. "You and Ironhide are--"

"Not taking them," Ratchet insisted. He turned away from Wheeljack to continue cleaning up for the next shift.

"You're the only one on the team with a mate," Wheeljack told his friend. "And you were the one who said it would be best for them to have two parental figures."

"Had I know that I was apparently volunteering Ironhide and myself, I would have kept silent."

"Wheeljack frowned. "Ratchet, I know you want to, but you _are _the only one that can."

Ratchet sighed, pausing in his cleaning. There was just no way of getting out of this. Wheeljack was not going to let him back down. The medic let his gaze shift over to the corner of the medical bay, where the subjects of the argument lay curled together in recharge. Ratchet was quiet for the longest time as he watched them recharge. Finally, he turned to Wheeljack, a defeated look on his faceplates.

"Alright," he said. "Ironhide won't be happy about it, but I'll take them."

Wheeljack smiled. "Oh, Ironhide can deal," he replied. He picked up a box of supplies. "Here, I'll help you get them home."

Ratchet watched his fellow researcher get the supplies together. He briefly wondered if this was a good idea; he certainly didn't have experience in this particular…field. In truth, none of the research team truly had experience there, but they just couldn't pass up this chance. It was a rare occurrence and they'd been lucky to get their subjects at such a young age, even under the rather upsetting circumstances surrounding them.

With another sigh, Ratchet finished putting his tools away and gathered up a few more supplies. Then he went over to the small recharge berth and picked up one of the sparklings as Wheeljack picked up the other. The two researchers left the medical bay, heading down the hall and out of the Science Institute. As they walked through the streets of Iacon to the complex where Ratchet lived with his mate, they spoke of the study they had planned.

"I'm interested to see what connection they may have," Wheeljack said. "I would like to find if they share a common spark or if they're of different sparks."

"You're getting far too ahead of yourself, Wheeljack," Ratchet told his friend. "Their spark casings are too sensitive to even think about looking at them. That would have to wait at least a vorn until they've developed properly."

"Do you perhaps think we could get Soundwave to bring his twins in for a behavioral study with these two?" Wheeljack asked.

Ratchet stopped in his tracks, staring at his friend with his mouth agape. Wheeljack turned to the older mech and gave him a questioning look.

"Has your processor short-circuited, 'Jack?" Ratchet hissed. "Rumble and Frenzy would corrupt them on a whim! Or need I remind you who was responsible for the black-out in the market last week?"

Wheeljack blinked his optics. "Oh, yeah."

A soft whimper from the sparkling in his arms alerted Ratchet to the small mech's awakening. He shifted him in his arms and attempted to coax him back into recharge as he and Wheeljack resumed their walk to Ratchet's home unit. It wasn't that much further, but to a sparkling, it would seem forever. When the sparkling off-lined his optics and drifted back into recharge, Ratchet and Wheeljack continued their conversation, bringing up more areas of study that they hoped to explore with the two sparklings.

Finally, they reached the complex and headed for Ratchet's unit. Standing in front of the door, Ratchet shifted the sparkling and supplies that he held in an attempt to punch in the code to open the door. Before he could, the door opened and Ironhide appeared. The taller red mech gave his mate a smile and greeted Wheeljack before stopping short at the sight of the sparklings the two researchers carried.

"Ratch, what are those?" he asked.

"They're sparklings, Ironhide," the medic replied, stepping inside and past his understandably confused mate.

Ironhide blinked at Ratchet. "Alright, I kinda guessed that much. What are they doin' here?"

Ratchet sighed as he set down the supplies he carried. He brought the sparkling over to Ironhide and held him out to the red mech. "I told you the team was presented with a set of twins. Apparently, no one else on the team could take them, so I was the one with the luck to bring them home to raise."

The weapons specialist was almost afraid to take the small mech from his mate. The sparkling was…tiny; he couldn't have been sparked more than a quarter-vorn ago. Tentatively, Ironhide took the sparkling in his arms and held him close. He looked down at the sparkling's silver face and, Primus help him, couldn't help a small, nervous smile.

"Do the little guys have names?" he asked.

Ratchet looked up from where he was setting up a small playpen in the corner of the room. He looked at the sparkling in his mate's arms for a moment, as if trying to remember which sparkling was which.

"The one you're holding is Sideswipe," he said, finally. He stood and took the other sparkling from Wheeljack. "This one is Sunstreaker."

_**Author's Note:**__ Prologue is shooooooooooort. Because Kirii is lazy and stuff. Actually, it's more Kirii is dying from lack of sleep and can't be assed to write more. Next chapter, though, will be more than a page and a half long. Promise. Kirii's just setting things up here. That's why it's a prologue and not a real chapter. Kirii will stop writing in third person now._


	2. Chapter One

_**Author's Note:** You guys totally threw me for a loop with the reception for the prologue. OO;; That, coupled with the fact that I'm a complete lazy-ass, is what took me so long to update. Forgive me?  
__**Warnings:** Remembering that this is **completely AU**, I'm messing with the idea of family structures and have no clue what I'm doing with them. 8D;;  
__**Disclaimer:** Somewhere, in a parallel universe, Ratchet is beating me upside the head with a wrench for doing this to him. And no, I still don't own them._

Chapter One

Ratchet was woken from recharge by the sound of crying sparklings echoing through the unit. He groaned and nuzzled against Ironhide lightly. He felt the larger mech put his arms around his waist as the crying continued. It took both of them several breems to realize that the crying came from the sparklings that they'd settled into the room just across from their own. Ratchet on-lined his optics and pushed himself away from Ironhide, getting off the berth and sleepily heading into the other room.

Sideswipe was crying at the highest pitch his vocalizer could manage and Sunstreaker's cries were just as loud, if not louder than his brother's. The medic leaned over the edge of the crib and picked up Sideswipe, pulling him close and cradling him. The sparkling slowly started calming down as Ratchet bounced him up and down. Ratchet knew the young mech couldn't be hungry; a quick scan showed Sideswipe's energy levels as normal and he had _just_ given him a cube of specially formulated energon a little over a joor ago. He was pretty sure that Sideswipe just wanted attention.

Ironhide stumbled into the room and looked blearily at his mate and the two sparklings. Sunstreaker was still crying loudly, so the red mech went over and reached into the crib to pick up the yellow sparkling. Unfortunately for Ironhide, Sunstreaker wasn't as easily quelled as his twin and his cries got louder, scrambling the weapons specialist's audio receivers on the right side of his head.

"Primus!" he exclaimed. "How can a 'bot so tiny make so much noise?!"

Ratchet winced as Sideswipe began to cry again, distressed by his twin's louder cries. "Try rocking him!" He had to shout the suggestion for his mate to hear him over the two wailing sparklings.

Eventually, the two adult mechs were able to get their charges to quiet down and settle back into recharge. Ratchet had taken a seat in the chair he'd dragged into the room when it'd been designated as the sparklings' room and now recharged with Sideswipe huddled in his arms. Ironhide looked over at his mate and gave a soft smile; it was an endearing sight to behold. He set the slumbering Sunstreaker back into the crib and then approached to take Sideswipe from Ratchet's arms. Once he had both sparklings in the crib, he carefully lifted Ratchet into his arms and carried his beloved mate back to their room.

* * *

Perceptor had arrived to the lab at the Science Institute a joor before Ratchet and Ironhide came in, carrying the two slumbering sparklings. The red and blue scientist looked up at his fellow researcher and saw immediately that the medic looked exhausted. He went over and took the yellow sparkling from Ratchet, cradling him gently and running a brief scan before looking back at Ratchet.

"Did you not recharge well?" he asked, concern lighting his optics.

Ratchet waved the question off. "A cube of energon and I'll be fine," he told the other. "The sparklings were unfamiliar with my home and took a little adjusting, that's all."

Perceptor blinked his optics at Ratchet before turning to set Sunstreaker into one of the play pen that he'd brought into the lab. Ironhide followed suite and set Sideswipe into the pen with his brother before Ratchet pulled him aside to fix his audios, which were still scrambled from Sunstreaker's cries. Ratchet hadn't gotten the chance to fix his mate's audios earlier, as they'd both been busy trying to feed the sparklings and get them ready to go to the institute.

While Ratchet was taking care of Ironhide, Perceptor began another scan, this one on Sideswipe. He recorded their stats and went about preparations. As soon as the others arrived, they were scheduled to discuss their plans for the twins. Each member of the team had different ideas for what to do with the sparklings, but Perceptor had insisted that each idea be discussed and agreed upon before anything was done. That way, there'd be less arguing and more organization in their study.

Wheeljack arrived shortly after Ratchet finished up with Ironhide and sent the weapons specialist on his way. Ironhide gave Wheeljack a wave as he passed the other mech on his way out of the room. Wheeljack returned the gesture before going over to Ratchet to talk to him while they waited for Skyfire and Starscream to arrive.

"So, how were the twins at your place?" Wheeljack asked.

Ratchet gathered his tools and set them aside as he replied. "For the most part, they were fine. They did have a bit of a problem with being in a new place, though."

"As expected," Wheeljack said. "They're just sparklings. Anything unfamiliar would upset them."

Ratchet nodded. "We're going to have to be careful about taking them to unfamiliar places. We can't just move them from place to place all the time. They're going to need the chance to become familiar with both the institute and my home so they're comfortable."

"Bring that up once the meeting gets started," Wheeljack suggested. "I'm sure the others will agree to it."

Ratchet opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the sound of Starscream's voice shouting in the hall reached his audios. He gave a groan and prayed to Primus that Starscream was not fighting with his brother, Skywarp, again. The fights between the two of them often put Starscream in a foul mood and the last thing any of them needed was Starscream in a foul mood, especially with the sparklings that were currently in recharge.

Primus, however, did not seem to be in a listening mood. The door to the room was slammed open and Starscream stormed in with a final shout of "Get smelted, fragger!" to his brother. On cue, Sunstreaker woke from recharge and began wailing, waking his twin, who proceeded to cry as well.

"Slaggit, Starscream!" Ratchet exclaimed, glaring at the young Seeker. He and Wheeljack went over to the screaming sparklings and picked them up, trying to calm them. "Do you _have_ to make so much noise when you come in here?"

Starscream glared right back at the other mech. "Mind your own business, medic!"

Perceptor stood abruptly. "Starscream, your behavior is intolerable. You knew when we took you onto our team that we would not abide such blatant disrespect. For you to behave in this way, especially with sparklings in the room, is insufferable!"

"Stay out of this," Starscream huffed.

"Mind your conduct," Wheeljack spoke up irritably, ear fins flashing as he spoke. The wailing red sparkling in his arms quieted down at seeing the flashing lights and watched the researcher with wide optics. Noting this, Wheeljack went on. "If this continues, Starscream, there _will_ be consequences."

Sideswipe clicked in amusement, clapping his hands together as Wheeljack's ears continued to flash. In Ratchet's arms, Sunstreaker quieted down as well, optics focused on his twin. Wheeljack was talking to Sideswipe in a soft voice, amusing the red sparkling with his ear fins. Sunstreaker tried to shift in Ratchet's arms and reach for his twin, whimpering until Ratchet stepped closer to his friend and his brother.

Starscream looked at the sparklings, yellow optics focused on the two of them. He gave a huff and crossed his arms over his cockpit, muttering at a low decibel. Perceptor cycled air through his systems, fans whirring audibly in a rather exasperated action. As the leader of the team, it was his job to make sure things stayed organized and conductive. This included making sure the team members could get along, so as not to put pressure on the twins.

"Starscream, I know you have difficulties with your brother," Perceptor said, looking at the youngest team member. "But unless you can at least _attempt_ to keep from bringing them into the study, we may have to let you go."

Starscream was about to open his mouth for a bitter retort when a white hand came down on his head. The young Seeker's face fell into a frown and he tilted his head to glare up at the larger flier. Skyfire gave him a disarming smile.

"Causing trouble again, are we?" he asked. "After everything I did to get you a place with us?"

Starscream's faceplates heated up, giving them a slight red glow. He looked away, mumbling something that none of the other mechs in the room could hear. He broke away from Skyfire and took a seat at the table, scowl in place over his lip components. Skyfire gave a laugh and joined the others, taking his own seat across from the younger flier while Ratchet and Wheeljack set the now awake, and thankfully, calm sparklings back into the play pen that Perceptor had set up. Sunstreaker grabbed the side of the pen and hauled himself up on wobbly legs to watch as Sideswipe amused himself with the datablocks that had been tossed into the play pen.

"Ratchet," Perceptor said. "Could you report how things went with the twins over night?"

Shuttering his optics briefly, Ratchet relayed once again how the twins reacted to their surroundings at his home unit. He told the group how Sideswipe's cries woke Sunstreaker and how their cries seemed to intensify with the increasing levels of discomfort in each other. This interested the others, who all noted it down in the datapads they held.

"We should look into that further," Skyfire suggested. "It may suggest a common spark between them."

"It would be worth noting," Perceptor agreed. "Considering that we cannot risk opening their spark casings to observe their sparks directly, due to the damage it may cause, it would give us insight that we would otherwise lack."

Ratchet held up a hand to draw attention back to him. "Before we get too far," he said. "I would like to bring to attention that it was their unfamiliarity with their surroundings that upset them most while they were in my home."

Perceptor, Skyfire, and Starscream listened to Ratchet's proposal on putting their study on hold until the twins became accustomed to their surroundings. Perceptor was the first to voice his agreement on the suggestion; he believed that the twins would be better relaxed if they weren't shuffled from place to place for observation. He made his own suggestion of Ratchet doing some independent study of the twins' behavior at home before they made any other moves.

"Their systems, at such a young age, cannot process information as well," the lead scientist told the others. "To move them about would be too much for them to handle. Giving them time to become familiar with Ratchet's home would give them the chance to understand it as a safe place for them. It is the same with all sparklings, not just with twins."

"So we would be putting our studies completely aside?" Starscream asked.

"Not completely," Perceptor replied. He turned to Ratchet. "If you would not object to it, you could send us observations of their behavior at home for a half-vorn. At the same time, we could alternate coming in to run scans and record data from time to time."

Ratchet thought on that. "I would have no objections to it. I will speak to Ironhide about it, but it's not likely that he will have any objections to it."

"Are we all in favor, then?" Wheeljack asked.

All around the table, the team nodded their heads. Arrangements were made concerning Ratchet's observations and a schedule made up of which member of the team would make a visit to the medic's home unit for study sessions. Sunstreaker, having tired of watching the adult mechs talk to each other, had joined his brother in playing with the datablocks and took an opportunity to heft one of the blocks at Perceptor when he got hungry. The red and blue mech retrieved the datablock from where it had fallen to the floor after bouncing off his helm, then fetched a cube of specialized energon to feed the yellow sparkling.

"For a sparkling, he certainly knows how get one's attention without resorting to screaming," Perceptor muttered.

"I hope it doesn't become a habit of his," Ratchet said, picking up Sideswipe to get the sparkling his own cube of energon.

_**

* * *

**_

**Author's Note:** _Okay, if this chapter seems a bit dull and technical, let's remember that we're dealing with scientists and I'm still setting the scene. We're only on the first chapter. ;; I wanted to get in a couple things that were setting things up for later things, like the scene with Starscream. I'll explain more with that in later chapters. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take me near as long to write. _


	3. Chapter Two

_**Author's Note:**__ And I'm on a roll. I know I have a lot of request fics to get to (still), but y'know, muses strike when they feel like it. D: I have no control over them. A big thank you to Ame for giving me two particular snippets that turn up in this chapter.  
__**Warnings:**__ Bath time cuteness, some Prowl/Jazz, and mischief. Other than that, I can't tell you because I'm about half-asleep as I'm writing this.  
__**Disclaimer:**__ If I owned them, I'd be cooler._

Chapter Two

One thing that Ironhide had discovered in the time since Ratchet had first brought them home was that the twins loved bath time. While Sunstreaker was content to splash around where Ironhide had set him, Sideswipe was a little more energetic when it came to the bath. In fact, at the sight of the water, the red sparkling made a squeal of delight and had to be rescued from diving head first into the bath tub. Thankfully, bathing the twins was a two-mech job and Ratchet managed to keep Sideswipe from drowning himself in the tub.

"Crazy little glitch," Ratchet murmured. He held onto Sideswipe with one arm and used the other to wash the bouncing sparkling.

Ironhide laughed as he carefully scrubbed at Sunstreaker's small frame with a cleaning pad. "He's just a bit excited, is all."

Sunstreaker made a gargling sound as he splashed at the water with a toy in one hand, making Ironhide smile affectionately at the sparkling. He set the cleaning pad aside for a moment to start rinsing the cleanser from Sunstreaker's body. The yellow sparkling shuttered his optics and clicked in undeniable annoyance as the water that Ironhide had scooped up ran down his face. He shook his head and splashed around with a little more of an attitude, causing the water in the tub to leap over the edges and soak the weapons specialist.

"Ack!" Ironhide jumped back a bit, maintaining his grip on Sunstreaker the best he could so the sparkling didn't slip underneath the water. "Hey, watch it, Sunny!"

In Ratchet's arms, Sideswipe gave a squeal of laughter, waving his arms in a mirrored action to his brother's splashing, soaking the medic that was washing him. Ratchet groaned and pulled Sideswipe out of the tub, turning him around so they were face to face.

"You quit that," he told the red twin, frowning lightly at Sideswipe.

Sideswipe merely chirped and extended his arms towards Ratchet, little black fingers brushing against the medic's face and leaving streaks of water where they'd touched. Ratchet smiled and set Sideswipe back into the tub, where the sparkling once again began playing with the water. The medic reached over for the cleaning pad that his mate had finished with and began to scrub his charge down with it.

Ironhide grinned. "You're good with sparklings, Ratch," he said. He pulled Sunstreaker out of the water and set him down to let the sparkling dry off. "I'm kinda glad we're takin' care of these two. Gives me a chance to see you like this."

Ratchet gave a small smile of his own. "So long as you don't get sick of it. These two are ours to raise for the time being."

"I was thinkin'," Ironhide began, turning to Ratchet. "Perhaps we could go to the Prime an' see if we could take 'em in officially."

Ratchet paused in washing Sideswipe to look up at his mate. "You mean, adopt them?"

"Why not? We're already raising 'em. It's not that much more to make it official."

Ratchet sighed. "It's not up to us. I'd have to talk to Perceptor about it. While you and I may be raising them, he was the one that was granted official custody." He once again picked up the cleaning pad and worked on washing Sideswipe's arm. "Besides, it's a lot of paperwork to adopt and the number of channels we'd have to go through is insane. You have to be absolutely sure you want to go through with it."

Ironhide gave a sigh of his own. "I'd be willing to put up with all of the paperwork if it would make you happy."

"I'll think about it," Ratchet promised. "In the meantime, you should get Sunstreaker some energon."

"Right." Ironhide turned back to Sunstreaker, only to be taken aback. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"Where'd he get to?" Ironhide looked frantic at the thought that he'd lost the little yellow sparkling.

Ratchet pulled Sideswipe, who'd begun crying once he realized his brother wasn't in the room with him, out of the bath and looked around for Sunstreaker. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, worry apparent in his expression.

"Primus, I just set 'im down to dry off!" Ironhide left the room to look around the rest of the living unit for the missing sparkling. "I only had my optics off 'im for a nano-klik!"

"He couldn't have gotten far," Ratchet said, voice rising in apprehension. "He can't walk yet. Check the rec room."

Ironhide's voice called from the hall. "He's not there and…slag it, which one of us left the door open?"

"I didn't think one of the twins would manage to sneak out while we were bathing them!" Ratchet huffed in his defense. He carried the crying Sideswipe out of the room in search of Sunstreaker, following Ironhide out the door and into the open hallway that connected the second floor of living units.

"I'll go down this side an' see if he went this way," Ironhide said. He pointed the opposite direction of where he was headed. "You take Sideswipe an' look for his brother over there."

Ratchet nodded and headed down the hall, trying to calm Sideswipe down while keeping an eye out for the yellow twin. Caught up in these two tasks, the medic almost crashed into another mech that lived on the second level.

"Whoa, there, Ratch-man," the young visored mech said, reaching out to keep Ratchet from tripping over him. "Slow it down. There ain't a fire, is there?"

Ratchet stood straight and brushed the other mech's hand away, starting to move again. "Jazz, this isn't the time for idle chatter. I'm looking for a missing sparkling."

Jazz blinked from behind his blue visor. "So, the little guy's yours then?"

Ratchet paused and looked back at Jazz. The black and white mech held Sunstreaker in one arm. The yellow sparkling gave a delighted squeal and reached his arms out to his brother. Sideswipe frowned at his twin and crossed his arms over his small chest, looking away in a huff. Sunstreaker blinked his optics, confused by Sideswipe's actions. Jazz laughed at the interaction between the brothers, then looked up at Ratchet.

"When did you an' Ironhide find time t'have sparklings?" he asked.

"They're not ours," Ratchet replied. "Perceptor found them abandoned in the city. They're in our care for the time being, since Ironhide and I are the most capable of taking care of sparklings."

Jazz chuckled. "An' this one still got away from you," he said, bouncing the still-confused Sunstreaker in his arm.

"An incidence which I can assure you will not happen again," Ratchet told his neighbor.

Ironhide came up then, a look of relief on his face at the sight of Jazz holding Sunstreaker. "Oh, thank Primus," he said. "Though we lost 'im."

Jazz handed the yellow sparkling over to the weapons specialist. "The little guy crawled over to Prowl an' my unit. Seems t'me he thinks open doors are a chance for explorin'. Prowl was sure surprised t'see a sparkling sittin' in our front room."

"He didn't cause any trouble for you, did he?" Ironhide asked, pulling Sunstreaker to his chassis.

"Nah," Jazz replied, leaning in and tickling Sunstreaker's chin with a single black finger. "Jus' gave us a bit of a start. Didn't know who's he was or what he was doin' in our unit, so I thought I'd check with the femmes down the hall."

"Well, good thing I ran into you then," Ratchet said. "If Raindance gets her hands on one of these sparklings, we'll never see him again."

"Ah, she's not that bad," Ironhide told his mate. "She's just a little enthusiastic 'bout sparklings." He cradled Sunstreaker against him. "Now, we should get these two back home. It's past time for their energon."

"You should bring 'em over some time," Jazz told the two older mechs. "I'd like to get t'know the little guys."

"We'll be sure to do that," Ironhide replied, giving the young black and white a grin.

With that, Ratchet and Ironhide headed down the hall and to their own unit. Jazz waved to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who were both looking back at him as their guardians walked along. After the group was gone, the visored mech headed back into the living unit he shared with his lover. Prowl looked up from the datapad he'd been looking over while Jazz was out.

"I take it you found his creators?" the tactician asked.

"Well, sorta," Jazz replied, happily taking a seat on Prowl's lap. "Apparently, our neighbors decided t'take in a set of twins an' one of 'em got away from them."

Prowl arched an optic ridge. "You mean Ratchet and Ironhide?"

"Yup. Never thought I'd see those two with sparklin's, but it happened."

Jazz leaned into Prowl, putting his arms about the other mech's shoulders. Prowl was forced to put his datapad aside or risk it getting crushed between them. "Jazz," he began, ready to state that he was in the middle of his work.

"I want a sparklin'."

Prowl spluttered, giving Jazz a bewildered look. The visored mech gave him a disarming grin and kissed him soundly.

* * *

A deca-cycle passed before one of the other researchers came over for the pre-arranged session with the twins. Perceptor, as head of the research team, was the first one to come by. Though he'd received several reports from Ratchet over the time since they'd decided to keep the sparklings at the medic's home unit, he was curious to check them over for himself. He ran basic scans to check their energon levels, checked their optics, making notes on everything possible.

"They seem to be more comfortable with your home," he told Ratchet, placing Sunstreaker into his crib. "It looks as if they've settled in quite nicely."

Ratchet nodded. "Sideswipe still gets a little uneasy when it's time to recharge for the evening cycle, but for the most part, both of them have calmed down quite a bit."

Perceptor looked over the datapad containing the information that Ratchet had sent him previous to his visit. The report included a brief summary of Sunstreaker's excursion to the neighbor's home unit, which both Wheeljack and Skyfire had found amusing upon Perceptor's presentation. The scholar had found it a bit of a worrying sign of the twin's developmental behavior, but otherwise wasn't too troubled by it. So long as crawling away didn't become a habit for either of the twins.

Perceptor turned to his fellow researcher, leaving the twins in their cribs. "We've been discussing basic tests at the institute," he said. "As their guardian, I thought it would be best to run the suggestions by you before making any final decisions."

"So long as the tests aren't going to bring any harm to either of them, I don't see what basic tests would need to be run by me," Ratchet replied, offering a cube of energon to the other mech in a polite gesture.

"Oh, of course, no harm will come to either twin," Perceptor told him, gratefully accepting the energon. "As I said, we're only just beginning. There are only so many tests we can run at this point; behavioral studies and comprehension tests are but a few we can work with."

Ratchet turned away from the energon dispenser to face his colleague. As he turned, his gaze fell upon the twins they'd left in the cribs. The medic's optics widened in surprise as Sideswipe pulled himself up to the edge and _back-flipped_ out, plopping onto the countertop next to his crib.

"Primus, Sideswipe!" Ratchet exclaimed, pushing past Perceptor and picking up the red sparkling.

Sideswipe clicked at him happily, smiling innocently in the way only sparklings could. Ratchet shook his head as Perceptor took note on the sparkling's behavior. In the other crib, Sunstreaker clapped his hands together, almost as if in approval of his twin's endeavors. Ratchet looked at Sideswipe, wondering exactly why the twins seemed so intent on sending him to the Matrix early by pulling off stunts such as this. He watched, bemused, as the sparkling he held discovered he did indeed have feet and, in a display of astonishing flexibility, promptly stuck one in his mouth to suck on.

Perceptor chuckled. "Well, it seems they're both rather active. This is a good thing to know. It'll keep you on your feet."

Ratchet glared lightly at the other researcher. "If they don't send my spark into arrest."

The red and blue scientist smiled, entering data from the latest display from the sparklings into his datapad to present to the rest of the team when they next met. He was quiet for a moment while he did that before saving the information and looking back up at Ratchet. "Well, I will discuss with the rest of the team what the plan will be when the twins can be brought back into the institute. Currently, we have only a few ideas. Wheeljack will be sure to give you a call when something has been established."

"I look forward to it," the medic said.

"In the meantime, continue to send us reports on their growth," Perceptor told him. "This promises to be quite the experience for us. We were indeed lucky to get these two."

Ratchet nodded. "Indeed."

_**Author's Note:**__ Short chapter is short! I have no idea why I can't seem to write anything more than four pages for each chapter. I suppose I'll make up for it some time. In the meantime, I __**so**__ look forward to the next chapter. I finally get revenge on Prowl for all the crap he's put me through lately. glares at her Prowl-muse Oh, yes. He knows what I'm talking about._


	4. Chapter Three

_**Author's Note:**__ I admit it; I'm an easily distracted writer. But I've been on a roll since I found out I passed my math class. Be proud of me for my passing grade and the fact I'm writing again. Shout outs to Ame and BlueProwl for their help and ideas that made it into this chapter!__Also, upped the rating to PG-13 because I don't think PG is high enough for some of the stuff I have planned for the later chapters. Just as a precaution.  
**Warnings:**__ Some fluff with Ironhide and Ratchet. A little more play with Starscream's family issues. And a lot of fun with the twins.**  
Disclaimer:**__ I don't own them. I just abuse them. 8D_

Chapter Three

As the orns passed and the twins became more comfortable with their home and the surrounding area, Ratchet and Ironhide began taking them out of the unit and into the neighborhood more. Sideswipe was a little more attentive while on the excursions that Jazz, in a neighborly jest, had dubbed "family outings" than his brother. Sunstreaker was often too busy figuring out his surroundings through other means, putting things in his mouth whenever he got the chance.

"Sunstreaker, get that outta your mouth," Ironhide said, reaching down and pulling the item in question out of the youngling's mouth.

Sunstreaker watched quietly with wide blue optics as Ironhide's hand took his latest chew toy out of range. Then, much to the red mech's chagrin, pulled a stylus out of the carrier he sat in and stuck it in his mouth. Ironhide gave an exasperated sigh and reached to take that away from the yellow sparkling as well. However, this time, Sunstreaker was determined to keep it away from Ironhide, moving his head from side to side and squirming to keep the weapons specialist from taking the stylus.

"C'mon, Sunny, I need that!" Ironhide told the sparkling.

Ratchet gave a chuckle, reached over, and took the stylus out of Sunstreaker's mouth, handing it over to his mate, who subspaced it to keep it out of the sparkling's reach. Sunstreaker gave a series of disappointed clicks and flopped back in his carrier. Ironhide chuckled, amused by the sparkling, and reached down to tickle at one of Sunstreaker's head-crests. The yellow sparkling squealed and batted at Ironhide's hands with his own tiny ones.

The two mechs continued to cart the twins around the sector of the city they lived in for a while before Sunstreaker and Sideswipe began clicking in the way that informed their guardians it was time for a nap. Ratchet pulled Sideswipe out of his carrier and held him against his chest, letting the red sparkling rest his head in the crook of his neck. Ironhide let Sunstreaker stay in his own carrier and led the way back to the home unit complex.

As he and Ratchet got the twins settled into the cribs at home, Ironhide turned to his mate.

"Y'know, we've had the sparklings for a while," he began. "And we haven't really gotten a chance to do anythin' on our own since we took 'em in."

Ratchet looked up at Ironhide. "What are you getting at?"

Ironhide rubbed the back of his head. "I was thinkin' maybe we could get Prowl n' Jazz to watch the twins for a bit while you n' I got some time on our own."

Ratchet placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head curiously at his mate. "You think that's a good idea?"

"C'mon, Ratch," Ironhide replied. "You gotta be feeling a little tired. You _look_ tired and your aim's improvin'. If that ain't a sign of you getting tired, I don't know what is!"

The medic gave a sigh. He knew Ironhide had a point; he _had_ been feeling a little tired lately, after the near two and a half deca-cycles since he'd first brought the twins home. It was rough taking care of them, especially since the twins had figured out how to synchronize their cries in the middle of the night. The idea of letting the neighbors take Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, if only for a couple of hours, was indeed a welcome one. The only problem was...

"Jazz and Prowl both work into the late joors," he said. "They wouldn't be able to take them."

Ironhide gave a frown. "What 'bout one of your co-workers? Couldn't Wheeljack watch 'em?"

Ratchet gaped at his mate. "You'd leave them in _Wheeljack_'s hands?"

A wince from the weapons specialist was enough of an answer there; while Wheeljack was a responsible mech in his own right, his attention could easily be caught by one of his (often enough) explosive experiments that he tinkered with whenever he had a free moment. Ratchet had patched his friend up more than once as part of his internship with the medical staff at the Academy. Leaving the twins with Wheeljack and leaving Wheeljack unattended with a set of sparklings wasn't amongst the most brilliant ideas.

"Perceptor?"

"He's got his hands full with the official work," Ratchet replied.

"That leaves the newbie an' Skyfire," Ironhide said, placing his chin in his hand.

"Which would be just fine," Ratchet told him. "Both of them have yet to do their sessions with the twins, so it would a perfect opportunity for them. I'll talk to the both of them tomorrow and see if they'd be up to it."

Ironhide smiled and took Ratchet by the hand, pulling the medic against him before wrapping his arms about the white mech. He kissed the grey chevron that adorned his mate's helm lightly. Ratchet gave a content sigh; while chevrons for other mechs tended to be stimulating area, attention to his calmed him greatly. As tired as he was, the soft kiss to his chevron sent his systems into preparation for recharge.

"C'mon, Ratchet," Ironhide said softly, shifting to guide his mate out of the room and to their own.

Ratchet nodded and let Ironhide lead him to their berth. The two of them lay onto the berth with Ironhide's back to the wall and Ratchet curled up against him, wrapped once again in the larger mech's arms, windshield against windshield. Ironhide returned his attention to Ratchet's chevron, intent on getting his mate to relax into recharge. Ratchet let his optics shutter closed as his systems calmed down. Between Ironhide's lips on his chevron and his already tired systems, it didn't take long for the medic to slip into recharge beside his mate.

Ironhide smiled at the sight of the recharging medic before settling down to let himself go into recharge. However, before he got the chance, his audios picked up on a whimpering sound coming from the other room. Careful so as not to jolt Ratchet out of recharge, Ironhide moved and got off the berth to check on the twins before they began crying. He didn't want them to wake Ratchet, either.

"C'mere, Sunstreaker," the weapons specialist said as he reached into the crib to pick up the whimpering yellow sparkling.

Several breems and a cube of formulated energon later, Ironhide managed to coax Sunstreaker back into recharge and wandered back into the room he and Ratchet shared. He got back onto the berth, again being careful not to wake his mate, and laid down, wrapping his arms around Ratchet. He shuttered his optics and waited for his systems to settle into recharge.

* * *

Starscream stormed out of the home-unit he shared with his brother. It was becoming harder and harder to deal with Skywarp as time went on. The two Seeker model mechs had always had their difficulties getting along, but recently, things had gotten steadily worse. While Starscream spent most of his time working towards his degree from the Science Institute, Skywarp seemed to do nothing but fight and cause Starscream trouble.

It was enough to drive him crazy.

The walk from the home-unit to the Institute would help him cool down and Skywarp was still busy with his partner, Thundercracker, so there'd be no continued argument between the two brothers. Starscream was glad of that; Perceptor had warned him that coming to the Institute with an attitude as such as one that the young Seeker had after a fight with his brother was detrimental to the study's environment and had also warned him that if Starscream could not control himself, he would be excused from the study.

Starscream was determined that wouldn't happen. The last couple of deca-cycles had been relatively calm; Skywarp had been busy with Thundercracker, taking care of things wherever the two of them worked, leaving Starscream alone to work towards his credentials. Things at the home-unit they shared had been quiet enough that the younger Seeker had gotten quite a lot of work done. Then, of course, Skywarp had come home from his trip to Kaon, tired and dragging an equally tired Thundercracker along with him, disrupting Starscream's studies and instigating a scrapple between them.

Upon entering the Science Institute, Starscream set his shoulders, not about to let the fight with Skywarp ruin his chance to complete his credentials. He walked through the building, heading for the room where the team usually met. He'd just about made it there when Skyfire called him from behind. A bit surprised, Starscream turned to face the larger flier.

"Hey," Skyfire said, giving Starscream a smile. "I was hoping to talk to you before we joined the others. Ratchet sent me a message to pass on earlier."

Starscream narrowed his optics slightly. Ratchet wasn't exactly fond of Starscream, finding him a bit rough for the study the team was conducting, and knowing this, the Seeker was a bit apprehensive about any messages from the medic.

"And the message is?" he asked.

"He wants to speak to both of us once Perceptor's done with us," Skyfire replied. "He said he'd meet us here."

"I see," Starscream said. He turned away from the larger flier, heading once again towards the meeting room.

"Starscream, wait."

The Seeker turned back around, his yellow optics focusing on Skyfire's face as he lifted his chin to look up at him. Skyfire stepped closer to Starscream, offering the smaller mech another smile, this one softer than the one before.

"Look, I know you've been having problems at home, with your brother," he began. "And I know you want to stay on with the team so you can get your credentials. I was thinking about it and I think I can help you out a little."

Starscream raised an optic ridge, curious. "How so?"

"Well, I've got a lot of room where I live and I thought, maybe, you could move in with me," Skyfire offered. "There wouldn't be a lot of distractions and if you needed any help with datawork, I'd be there to help out if you wanted."

Starscream's optics flickered in surprise at the older mech's offer. "You would do that for me?"

"I mean, you don't have to if you'd rather stay with your brother, but I just thought you'd like the environment better," the shuttle said. "Just if you'd like."

"I…" Starscream began, his faceplates warming.

"Hey, you two," Wheeljack called from the door of the meeting room. "Hurry and get in here! Perceptor's getting annoyed waitin' for you!"

"We're coming," Skyfire told the engineer. Once Wheeljack had disappeared back into the room, he looked back at Starscream. "Think it over, Starscream. I don't want to push you into making a decision on the spot. Just let me know when you decide."

With that, Skyfire stepped past Starscream and headed into the meeting room. Starscream stayed behind for a nano-klik, still a little stunned by Skyfire's offer. A moment passed and he finally headed into the meeting room to join his colleagues for Perceptor's latest report from Ratchet's home-unit. He paid only half-attention to the red and blue scientist, his processor pre-occupied with deciding whether or not to accept Skyfire's invitation to move in with him; it would definitely be an advantage to do so, since it would be infinitely easier to work when he wasn't constantly interrupted by Skywarp's pranks and loud activities.

His decision was pushed aside once the meeting was over and the members of the team were dismissed to go about their own ways. Starscream stood to leave the meeting room and was joined by Skyfire, who reminded him of the meeting with Ratchet and pointed the way to where exactly the medic would be meeting them. Neither of them brought up Skyfire's offer as they made their way through the Institute.

Ratchet greeted his two colleagues as they approached. Skyfire gave the medic a smile, while Starscream gave a nod to the white mech. Ratchet led the two of them to the ground-level lounge in the Science Institute, offering both of them a cube of energon from the dispenser before going to sit down.

"So, Ratchet, where are the twins?" Skyfire asked as he took his seat.

"My neighbors are watching them while Ironhide's at work," the medic replied. "I wanted to speak to the two of you face-to-face rather than simply call you. Bringing the twins would have made that rather difficult."

Skyfire nodded. "So I would imagine."

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Starscream inquired.

"The two of you have yet to do a session with the twins," Ratchet told him. "Ironhide and I are in need of some time to ourselves and I thought it would be a good opportunity for you two to take the twins."

Skyfire gave Ratchet a bit of an uneasy look. "As much as I would love to take the opportunity, I doubt that I would be able to actually enter your home-unit, Ratchet."

Ratchet nodded. "I know. That's why I said I'd like you two to take the twins. I've already spoken to Perceptor about it and he and I agree that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe can handle being moved from place to place. I was hoping that you'd be able to take them to _your_ home-unit until Ironhide and I return."

Skyfire let that run through his processors. "I wouldn't object to it," he said. He looked at Starscream. "I think we could manage that with little difficulty."

Starscream nodded. It seemed convenient that Ratchet would propose taking the sparklings to Skyfire's home-unit after Skyfire had offered to let Starscream move in with him. It gave the Seeker the chance to see if it would be a good decision as well as get in the hours working with the twins that he needed.

"We'll do it," he told Ratchet.

"Wonderful," the medic said, venting a sigh of relief. He was quite looking forward to time away from the sparklings, to getting some much needed rest without interruptions. "When would be a good time?"

"Anytime you need," Skyfire replied. "I'd just have to clear out some of the clutter so the twins could have a little room to explore."

"Keep an optic on them if you're going to let them explore," Ratchet warned. "They both like to hide if you give them even an inch."

Skyfire laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Would you be able to take them in three joors?"

"Sure." Skyfire looked again at Starscream. "Is that okay with you, Starscream?"

The Seeker gave a shrug. "I certainly don't have anything planned."

Ratchet gave a small smile. "I'll bring them over with a few essentials before Ironhide and I head off." He stood up. "Thank you for taking them. I should go get them before Prowl's processor goes haywire." His smile widened a bit. "Sunstreaker is apparently fine with anyone holding him, except for Prowl."

"It's a good thing for Prowl that you're a medic," Skyfire said, a grin of his own forming over his lips. "If his processors _do _go haywire, you're able to fix him up."

"Yes, there is that," Ratchet said, shaking his head. He hoped he wouldn't have to fix Prowl when he got back.

The three mechs made quick arrangements before Ratchet left. Starscream would come to Skyfire's home-unit a joor before Ratchet brought the twins, so that the Seeker would have time to learn the layout of the unit, in case Sunstreaker and Sideswipe decided to play games with them. Skyfire would have a room cleaned out so they could set up the twins' cribs. Ratchet would bring everything that Skyfire and Starscream would need to keep the twins occupied while making their observations.

* * *

Big blue optics stared up at the large red and white mech. The little sparkling blinked and made an inquisitive chirp around the fingers in his mouth as Sideswipe tried to understand who this mech was and why his guardian was handing him over to him. Sunstreaker, on the other hand, was recharging quietly as Ironhide handed him over to Starscream. He'd been napping since they'd left Prowl and Jazz's home-unit, while Sideswipe was perfectly content to stay awake and crawl around for the older mechs to chase.

"Sideswipe's begun walkin' on his own," Ironhide warned the two scientists as Ratchet set up the twins' cribs in the main room for his colleagues. "He's doing a fine job at it, too. Keep an optic on him if he starts, 'cause he's liable to disappear on ya."

Skyfire nodded as he held Sideswipe in one crooked arm. "Alright. We'll keep that in mind," he said. "And we have the formulated energon for when they get hungry."

"Check their energy levels before you put them in the berth for the evening joors," Ratchet told him. "Sparklings consume their energy a lot faster than adult mechs, so you need to make sure they have plenty."

"We know," Starscream said. "Perceptor's only been telling that for the last deca-cycle to prepare us for the study."

Ratchet's optics flashed in a sign of exasperation. "Just be sure you do it or you'll never get a moment's peace."

Ironhide pulled his mate towards the door, giving Starscream and Skyfire a smile as he did so. He was sure the twins were in capable hands and he was eager to get Ratchet away for their much needed rest and relaxation. "Again, thanks for taking 'em. We'll be back in a couple joors."

With that, the two older mechs left, leaving Starscream holding a recharging Sunstreaker and Skyfire holding a very confused and upset Sideswipe. The little red sparkling made a few unhappy clicks before he began whimpering. He didn't understand where his guardians had gone or why he and his brother had been left behind with these strange mechs!

"Hey, little guy, don't cry," Skyfire said, bouncing Sideswipe in his arms. "They're not going to be gone too long."

Sideswipe continued to whimper for a breem before he began full-out crying. Much to Starscream's displeasure, Sideswipe's crying woke his brother and, soon, Sunstreaker began crying as well, upset at being woken to the sight of two strange mechs in a place that he didn't recognize. Sunstreaker's cries were louder that Sideswipe's and, since he was still holding the yellow sparkling, Starscream was almost forced to offline his audios to keep them from being scrambled by the sharp cries.

It was going to be a long couple of joors, he decided.

Once Skyfire managed to get Sideswipe to calm down, he moved to help Starscream with Sunstreaker, leaving the red twin in the crib Ratchet had set up for him before leaving. He'd given Sideswipe a few datablocks to play with while the two researchers dealt with his brother. Unfortunately for Skyfire, the sparkling wasn't interested in playing with the datablocks, having spotted something more interesting to play with. As Skyfire and Starscream attempted to get Sunstreaker to calm down, Sideswipe pushed himself up and climbed out of the crib.

"Try this," Skyfire suggested, handing Starscream one of the toys that their colleague had left behind.

"And what am I supposed to do with it?" Starscream asked, taking the toy anyway. "The little glitch won't even look at it!"

Sunstreaker's cries got louder, causing both Starscream and Skyfire to wince at the sound. Starscream dropped the toy so he could better hold the shrieking sparkling; Sunstreaker had begun struggling to get out of the Seeker's arms. Finally, Skyfire checked Sunstreaker's energy levels and, with a knowing grin, fetched a cube of the formulated energon to feed to the sparkling.

"All that screaming is because he's hungry?" Starscream looked at the quieting Sunstreaker as Skyfire fed the sparkling he held.

"Well, he also was woken up by his brother to see a couple of mechs he doesn't recognize," Skyfire said.

"Speaking of his brother," Starscream muttered. "Where'd the little glitch run off to?"

Skyfire spun around, finding that Starscream's muttered question wasn't without its reason. "How'd he get out of the crib?!"

"Don't you remember Perceptor telling us about that? He's done it before!"

"Oh, Primus," the bigger mech groaned. "Help me find him!"

"What about this one?" Starscream held Sunstreaker up.

"Hold onto him. We can't lose him, too."

With that, Skyfire headed through the home unit, keeping his optics on the watch for the missing red sparkling. Ironhide had been right in his warning; Sideswipe was indeed liable to disappear and he'd done just that. There was no sign of the younger twin anywhere Skyfire looked. He was beginning to worry that Sideswipe had managed to somehow get outside and was about to turn around and head outside to look when he heard the soft sound of a sparkling laughing.

With a sigh of relief, the scientist began following the sound. However, it turned out that Sideswipe's laughter wasn't quite enough to find the sparkling by. A few breems into his search, Skyfire had figured out which room the sparkling was hiding in; the rec room. The rec room of Skyfire's home unit hadn't been used for much of anything since he moved, except as an extra storage room for some of his older things. The room was filled with boxed up supplies and broken equipment in large crates. Sideswipe was hiding somewhere in that mess of crates and boxes.

"Sideswipe!" Skyfire called, moving slowly as he made his way through the room. "C'mon little guy, come out!"

Of course, there was no response from the small red sparkling. Sideswipe was intent on hiding and wasn't about to reveal where exactly he was. Skyfire vented a sigh and pushed a few boxes out of the way so he could move through the room a little easier. He looked around as he moved various crates out of the way, keeping his optics on the look-out for the missing sparkling.

"C'mon, Sideswipe!" he called again, getting a little desperate as he continued to look around. "I'll give you an energon treat if you come out for me!"

A sudden cry of surprise had Skyfire whipping around and facing the door to the room. He could have sworn that was Starscream who'd just shouted. Another cry had Skyfire shouting back, asking if the Seeker was okay.

"Get them off me!" came the distressed reply.

That had Skyfire pushing boxes out of his way in a hurry and making his way out the door and back to the main room of the living unit where he'd left Starscream with Sunstreaker. As he turned into the larger room, he looked around for his younger colleague. When he spotted him, it took all he had to keep from laughing.

"Quit staring and get them off!" Starscream shouted at him. "I can't move without hurting them!"

Skyfire laughed out loud at the sight now. Somehow, the twins had managed to get Starscream on the floor and were seated on his back, laughing and patting his wings excitedly, as if trying to coerce him into giving them a ride. Starscream had a scowl on his face, obviously displeased by the fun the twins were having and the fact that his colleague was laughing at him. The young Seeker did have a point though; Starscream couldn't move without causing the twins to get hurt. If he tried to stand, there was the chance Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would lose their grip on him and fall. That was the last thing Skyfire wanted to happen.

"C'mere, Sunstreaker," Skyfire said, picking up the yellow twin. The sparkling laughed, holding onto Skyfire with one hand while the other went into his mouth. "Are we done playing games, then?"

The little yellow sparkling tilted his head and chirruped at him around the fingers in his mouth, as if he was unsure of what Skyfire's question meant. Back on the floor, Starscream managed to get up and take hold of Sideswipe, turning the red twin to face him so he could scold him. Sideswipe merely laughed and patted the Seeker's dark cheekplates.

"I hope they're done playing games," he said. "Otherwise this is going to be a long evening."

* * *

When Ratchet and Ironhide returned to pick up the twins, Starscream couldn't be more relieved. The twins had been more rowdy than expected, possibly because of new opportunities of discoveries. Starscream and Skyfire had spent most of the time chasing the toddling little sparklings or looking for them throughout the home unit. By the time they'd finally managed to get Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to settle down, both of them were exhausted.

"I'm sorry they weren't the best behaved," Ratchet said, taking the slumbering Sideswipe from Skyfire. "But thank you for watching them."

"It's alright," Skyfire replied. "They didn't break anything valuable."

"We'll be sure t'teach 'em about breakin' things," Ironhide promised, a gentle grin on his face as he took Sunstreaker from Starscream. "An' we'll replace anythin' we can."

"Don't worry about it," the larger mech insisted. "They're sparklings. They can't help being curious about things."

Sunstreaker looked up at Skyfire, blinking his bright blue optics at the scientist as he put one of Ironhide's fingers in his mouth. He let out a soft gurgling noise, almost as if he were trying to talk to Skyfire. Ironhide gave a chuckle and tried to pull his finger out of the yellow sparkling's mouth. Unfortunately for him, Sunstreaker merely reached out to grab his finger to keep it where it was.

"Well, thank ya, again," Ironhide said, laughing lightly at the sparkling he held. "Much appreciated."

"It's not a problem," Skyfire smiled. "We'll just keep a better optic on them next time they decide to play hide n' seek."

"Will you two send a report to Perceptor about this?" Ratchet asked. "I'm sure he'd like to be updated on the twins and their behavior."

"Of course," Starscream said, sounding quite tired. He was ready to go home and recharge after all the running around; he hadn't expected sparkling-sitting to be such a tiring activity. "We'll take it to him when we go to the Institute tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," Skyfire agreed. He turned back to Ratchet and pointed to the sparkling his colleague held. "You be careful not to wake that sparkling."

"Are you kidding?" Ratchet asked, the sarcasm audible in his voice. "Recharging sparklings are a gift from Primus."

With that, Ratchet and Ironhide turned to leave, taking the twins with them back home. As Ironhide walked away with his mate, Sunstreaker rested his head on the red mech's shoulder, gurgling softly to himself around the weapons specialist's finger. He continued gurgling to himself throughout most of the walk back home. By the time they reached the living complex, he was deep in recharge like his brother.

"Aren't they just cute?" Jazz asked as he and Prowl joined them on their way to the floor their units were on. The two of them had just gotten off-shift and were returning to their own unit for the rest of the evening joors.

"When they're asleep, yes," Ratchet laughed lightly. "They just about put Skyfire and Starscream through the Pit earlier from what Starscream said."

"What, these two?" Jazz smiled, leaning over to look at the recharging sparklings. "Nonsense."

"Jazz, need I remind you of the incident with the datapads?" Prowl asked, his door-wings twitching ever so slightly.

"Ah, they were jus' playin', Prowl," the other mech replied. "'Sides, they were blank 'pads. No damage done."

"Yes, but think of the damage that would have happened had those not been blank."

Jazz grinned rather cheekily at his mate. "Why worry 'bout what might've been?" he asked as they stepped off the lift and into the hall leading to their home unit. He looked at Ratchet and Ironhide. "Say, the two of ya wanna leave the twins with us again sometime soon? I like watchin' them."

Ratchet nodded. "You could use the experience." Here, he paused to turn to Prowl. "I've been meaning to talk to you. I finished analyzing the exam results you asked for, Prowl. It's not a virus, it's a sparkling."

Prowl stopped in his tracks to take in that information. "What?"

Jazz's optics brightened from behind his visor. "I heard ya right, didn't I?"

"Yes. Prowl's bearing a sparkling," Ratchet repeated.

A loud whoop from the young saboteur woke the twins, who, in turn, began wailing and woke the mechs and femmes on that floor of the living complex. While Ratchet and Ironhide disappeared into their home unit to care for the now wide awake twins, Jazz pulled his mate into their own unit to celebrate with music and snuggles.

_**Author's Note:**_ _Prowl-muse is not happy with me. Jazz is delighted. Anyways, there you go. Chapter three is complete and twice as long as any other chapter I've written. Extra long chapter deserves extra reviews, right? Oh, hell, who am I kidding? _


	5. Chapter Four

_**Author's Note:** Okay, okay. Wow. Just wow. You guys really like this fic, don't you? XD is very surprised Thanks for all the comments, faves and support! You have no idea how much this boosts my ego.  
__**Warnings:** That would be telling, now wouldn't it?  
__**Disclaimer:** I tried to own them and wound up in crate of coconuts in the middle of the ocean and I have the bruises to prove it. _

Chapter Four

As the deca-cycles passed, the twins were brought back to the Science Institute for regular check-ins. During these check-ins, Perceptor would lead the team in tests to make sure Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were developing well, checking their ability to understand and adapt to their surroundings, their behavior and interactions with other mechs. It was during one of these check-ins that the red and blue scientist suggested that the twins be given the chance to interact more with other younglings; it would not do if Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were to develop anti-social behavior with Cybertronians their own age. The entire study would be ruined if the twins did not develop socially.

Since the ability to interact with other younglings was so crucial, the research team had to arrange time for the twins to do so. Wheeljack suggested taking the twins to a facility he knew hosted a sort of watch-center for younglings. Perceptor agreed that it sounded like a good place to start. Wheeljack informed the team of exactly what the facility was and Ratchet realized that he knew it as well; in fact, Prowl worked in the building that hosted the watch-center.

"I'll accompany him to work and speak to whoever is in charge at the watch-center about bringing the twins in," he said. "We can't just bring the twins in without first obtaining permission. They'll probably need to be registered with the caretakers."

"Yes, that is likely," Perceptor replied. "I would have to go with you if that is the case. If Sunstreaker and Sideswipe need to be registered, I would have to sign the documents."

Ratchet nodded. Though he and Ironhide were raising the twins, they were only guardians in the eyes of the research team; legally, Perceptor was the one who had custody of them. He had spoken to the scientist about adopting Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but for now, it was just talk. Nothing had been decided on that subject.

"In the meantime, are there any younglings you know of that we could introduce the twins to?" Perceptor asked.

"No," the medic responded. "There are no other younglings in the home-complex yet."

Perceptor thought on that for a breem. "We shall have to speak to the caretakers as soon as possible, then. The quicker we get the twins with other younglings, the better for them." The red and blue scientist looked over to where Skyfire and Starscream were checking Sunstreaker's optics while Wheeljack kept watch on Sideswipe. "Perhaps we could go there now? I'm sure the others can handle the twins for a joor or so."

Ratchet gave a bemused smile as Sideswipe watched Wheeljack's audio fins flash. There was an expression of absolute awe on the red sparkling's face as Wheeljack continued to speak. Once he was sure the twins were being kept busy, the medic turned to his fellow researcher and gave a nod. "I think that sounds like a good idea."

Perceptor led the way out of the meeting room and through the halls of the Science Institute. As the two researchers walked, Ratchet decided it was time to bring up an issue he'd been meaning to talk to his fellow researcher about.

"Perceptor, you know that I will be returning the medical field near the end of the vorn," he said. "What are we going to do with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe when the time comes?"

Perceptor thought about it for a moment. "It seems that they have really connected with you and Ironhide as their guardians," he replied, tapping one finger against his chin. "It would be logical for them to remain with you, even after you go back. You will still be part of the research team, yes?"

"Of course," Ratchet told him. "The study has been greatly satisfactory towards the knowledge of twins that I may some day need in the field. However, the more I get involved in the medical field, the less time I will have to come in."

"A valid point. And one that we will be able to work around."

Ratchet looked over at Perceptor, raising one optic ridge. "How so?"

"As time goes by, there will be less and less need to study Sunstreaker and Sideswipe on a daily basis. If we get in the tests we have deemed most important to do at the age they are now before the end of the vorn, I believe that an arrangement to bring the twins in once every stellar-cycle would be more than sufficient."

"Still, wouldn't it be better if you took them?" Ratchet asked. "You are legally responsible for them."

Perceptor stopped walking and turned to the medic. "That may be, but I am only their guardian because I was the one who signed the datawork. I cannot take them into my home; it is too much of a hazard to them for me to do so. By all respects, Ratchet, I would prefer for you and your mate to continue to care for them. And I do believe that you have shown interest in receiving legal guardianship?"

Ratchet gave a light smile. "Ironhide would be pleased if he and I were to gain custody. If you agree, he and I will fill out all datawork that's required to take them as our own."

Perceptor returned the smile, extending one hand to his fellow researcher. "Then so be it. I shall obtain all the necessary datawork and get it to you and Ironhide as soon as possible."

The two of them shook hands and continued on their way to the building hosting the watch center. It took them a little while to get there and a while longer to talk to the femme in charge of the center, but it was worth the time. Things were arranged, both for the twins to be registered amongst the younglings in the center and also for a couple study sessions. With everything taken care of, the two researchers headed back to the Science Institute to rejoin the rest of the team.

* * *

Sideswipe looked around the large room and the sparklings that were playing in it. Ratchet had set the little red sparkling on the floor of the watch center and was trying to persuade him into going over to a group of younglings not far from where Sideswipe had plopped down. Sideswipe stuck fingers into his mouth and chirruped uneasily.

"It's alright, Sideswipe," Ratchet told him. "They won't bite."

Sideswipe shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

The medic sighed at the younger twin. "They'll be nice, Sideswipe. They're sparklings, like you and Sunstreaker. You can play with them."

"Nuh-uh!" Sideswipe repeated.

Ironhide gave a light chuckle and set Sunstreaker down next to his brother. The yellow twin tilted his head back to look at Ironhide, an expression of confusion on his face. He wasn't sure why his guardians had brought him and his brother to this place. He scrunched his face up and pushed himself off the floor so he could wander over to the small scattering of datablocks that sat not far away. Sideswipe quickly got up to join his brother, not comfortable at all with the idea of being left behind by his twin.

As Ratchet watched the twins begin to play, he was quite pleased to see that one of the center's other charges come over to them. The little red femme wandered over and sat down next to the twins, offering them a toy in greeting, then waved a couple of the other younglings over. A red youngling with a black helm began dragging a smaller red and white youngling over.

"M'Firestar," the femme told the twins proudly. She then pointed to the two she'd waved over. "He's Inferno an' he's Red Alert."

The youngling introduced as Red Alert was cautiously hiding behind Inferno, looking around the other youngling and at the twins almost suspiciously, his yellow optics focusing on Sunstreaker and Sideswipe in turn. Firestar giggled at the other youngling and smiled at the twins.

"Red's shy," she explained.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe blinked their optics at the femme, trying to process what she was telling them. The most they'd understood was who the older younglings were. Sideswipe picked up one of the datablocks that was sitting near him and started to build a small structure. He pointed to Firestar, then to the pile.

"Build," he said.

Firestar nodded and began picking up more datablocks to help Sideswipe build his structure. Inferno let go of Red Alert's hand, going over to join Firestar and Sideswipe. The red and white youngling looked at Sunstreaker, who just glared at him. Red Alert quickly busied himself with another toy while the yellow twin went to join his brother and the others in building with the datablocks.

The group of younglings continued to play with the datablocks, Red Alert eventually joining them, though staying as far away from the newly arrived twins as he could. Sideswipe, Ratchet noted as he watched from behind the counter, was more adaptable to the new surroundings than his twin; Sunstreaker, it seemed, had more interest in staying with his brother than interacting with the other younglings. The medic gave a worried frown at that. He hoped it didn't mean that the yellow twin was already developing an anti-social personality and that it was just a general uneasiness around so many new younglings.

Time and continued observation would tell. At this point, it was still difficult to tell for certain. He couldn't take one session and be sure that the older twin was developing negatively. It would take many more than that. He'd pass his own observations on to the rest of the research team and have them all keep a sharp optic out for any continued behavior that might hint at Sunstreaker becoming unable to interact socially.

At the end of the session, Ratchet entered the watch-room and picked up Sideswipe, pulling the red twin away from the other younglings, much to the sparkling's dismay. Ironhide fetched Sunstreaker, who was more than ready to leave, having dropped the toy he'd been playing with and lifted his arms towards the weapons specialist.

"'Hide, up!" he ordered, pouting at the red mech.

Ironhide laughed and obliged, picking the yellow sparkling up and holding him in one arm. He turned to Ratchet and smiled. "Shall we go home, then?"

"Yes," Ratchet replied. "I think it's time someone had a nap."

"Not tired!" Sideswipe pouted from his place in the medic's arms.

"I meant me," Ratchet said, tickling the red sparkling and causing him to squeal with laughter.

* * *

As the vorn drew to an end, Ratchet and Ironhide took the twins in to be recognized as being their charges in all legal aspects. Perceptor, before the officials, signed the datawork that would turn Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to Ratchet and Ironhide. The datawork was also signed by the standing officials and taken in to the archives for consensus. From that point on, the medic and the weapons specialist were legally the twins' caretakers and, for all intents and purposes, the twins were to be considered Ratchet and Ironhide's sons.

To celebrate, Ratchet and Ironhide invited Perceptor, Wheeljack, Starscream and Skyfire to join them for energon treats at their favorite bar. The twins' systems had developed a tolerance to normal low grade by this time and they were brought along. The group sat together in one corner of the bar with the twins seated between their guardians. Wheeljack held up his cube of mid-grade to signal a toast to his friends.

"So, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are now officially yours," he said, his audio fins flashing with each word. "Bet you're thrilled, Ironhide."

"Ecstatic," Ironhide grinned, lifting his own cube.

"He's been giddy as a school-bot," Ratchet smiled, reaching behind the twins to put his hand on his mate's shoulder. "He could barely hold the stylus to sign the datawork."

Wheeljack laughed. "Well, you can't blame him."

"That's right," the red mech agreed. He flashed his mate a grin. "You were just as giddy."

"The Hatchet? Giddy?" Starscream asked from his seat next to Skyfire. "Wish I'd been there to see it."

Ratchet's optics narrowed at the young Seeker for the nickname. While the nickname itself was quite old--he'd received it while he was training as a medic--he'd never gotten used to it nor come to tolerate it. The Seeker ignored him and continued to sip at his energon. Skyfire just gave Ratchet and Ironhide smiles.

"Hey, the twins are about a vorn now, aren't they?" he asked suddenly.

Ratchet blinked. "Just about," he said. He turned to Perceptor. "We never found any records for their date of creation."

The red and blue scientist shook his head. "I've checked all the archived records. There was no data entry for a set of twins having been created in the timeframe I've estimated."

"So we don't even know their creation date?" Ironhide asked.

"Why not make it now?" Skyfire suggested. "Have another reason to celebrate gaining custody?"

Ratchet contemplated that, letting his gaze shift to the twins, who'd been making themselves busy munching on their energon treats. "I think that's a good idea."

Ironhide smiled. "It's a great idea," he said. He picked Sunstreaker up and slid the yellow twin into his lap. "Whaddya think, Sunny?"

Sunstreaker clicked at him and offered him the half-eaten energon treat he'd been holding. "'Nergon."

The group laughed, causing Sunstreaker to blink at them in curiosity, wondering what was making them all laugh. He stuck the energon treat back in his mouth and reached for the cube that Ironhide had set down.

"Nuh-uh," Ironhide told him, pulling the cube away. "You can't have that."

Sideswipe stood up and put his hands on Ironhide's arm, trying to peer over to see what his brother had been trying to get. "Nuh-uh?"

Ratchet picked up Sideswipe, pulling him to his own lap. "Well, if we're celebrating their creation date, shouldn't we treat them to just a little energon cake?"

Sideswipe flickered his optics at his guardian. "Cake?"

"I'll go get it," Skyfire said, standing from his seat and turning to head for the counter, where there was a selection of energon goodies to choose from.

Starscream stood up as well. "I'll go with him."

Perceptor, Wheeljack, Ratchet and Ironhide talked amongst themselves while they waited for the two younger members of the research team to return. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe continued to amuse themselves by wiggling around in their guardians' laps and playing with the energon treats that they'd hardly eaten. The two of them were more interested when Skyfire and Starscream returned with a miniature energon cake for each of them. Sideswipe clapped his hands as Starscream set one of the cakes in front of him. Sunstreaker, on the other hand, blinked at his and poked at it for a nano-klik before finally taking a handful of energon cake and stuffing it in his mouth.

The researchers continued to talk to each other, discussing future plans for the twins. Ironhide, having no idea what was going on with the group of scientists and engineers, contented himself with holding Sunstreaker while the sparkling consumed his energon cake. Sideswipe, on Ratchet's lap, ate about half of his own cake before picking up a handful and looking at it briefly before smooshing it into his twin's face with a grin.

"Sideswipe!" Ratchet scolded, pulling the red twin away from his twin. "You do not do that to your brother!"

"Not do!" Sunstreaker agreed, taking a handful of his own cake and throwing it at his brother.

"Hey, now, Sunny," Ironhide frowned, pulling the other twin back. "Just 'cause he's not allowed to do that doesn't mean you are."

Sunstreaker crossed his arms over his chest and pouted at the weapons specialist. Ironhide wiped the bits of energon cake from the sparkling's face and shifted so that he could keep Sunstreaker away from Sideswipe before round two began. He handed the rest of the energon cake to his charge and let him eat the rest of it. The yellow sparkling ate about half of it before refusing to eat more, pushing it away and curling up against his guardian's chest, ready for recharge.

Next to Ironhide, Ratchet was dealing with an equally done Sideswipe. The red sparkling climbed up to wrap his arms around the medic's neck and rest his head on a white shoulder. Ratchet supported Sideswipe with one arm and used his free hand to push the remained of the sparkling's energon cake toward the middle of the table. Then he looked over to Ironhide.

"We should get these two home," he told his mate.

Ironhide nodded. He pushed his seat back and stood up, thanking the other scientists for joining them in their celebrating. Ratchet stood as well, shaking hands with Perceptor and thanking him again for signing the datawork for them. The red and blue scientist gave him a smile and congratulated his friend, saying that it was not a problem.

After parting words were said and credits exchanged to pay for their part of the drinks, Ratchet and Ironhide left the energon bar to head for home. Wheeljack, Perceptor, Skyfire and Starscream stayed back for a while to finish their own energon before heading home themselves. Perceptor and Wheeljack bade the two fliers good-bye, then turned down the street. Skyfire waved the other two a quick good-bye before turning to Starscream.

"C'mon," he told the Seeker. "Let's go home, Starscream. We'll fly."

Starscream gave him a smile and transformed to his jet form, rising above the streets of Iacon. "Race you," he challenged.

_**Author's Note:**__ Okay, that last little scene with Starscream and Skyfire wrote itself. I had no intention of writing that, but it's staying there. XD And I apologize for the long wait for the update. School is killing me. _


	6. Chapter Five

_**Author's Note:**__ Apologies for the wait for updates. The last couple months have not been kind to me. ;_;  
**Warnings:**__ The usual cuteness. Though I think I should warn you now to make appointments with your dentists for the completely cavity-inducing cuteness at the end of this chapter.  
**Disclaimer:**__ Here's the plan. You guys cause a riot outside Hasbro, I'll sneak in and swipe the rights to the characters and we'll evenly distribute them amongst ourselves. How 'bout it? :D_

Chapter Five

The watch-center began seeing more and more of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe as Ratchet returned to the medical field. Prowl and Jazz were concerned with preparing their living unit for their own sparkling and creating a frame for the developing spark, so Ratchet and Ironhide felt it rude to ask the pair of black and white mechs to watch the twins while they were at work. The arrangements were made with the caretaker at the watch-center so that the twins could be brought in frequently. And so it was thus that life for the newly-formed family went on.

A deca-cycle passed and the younglings at the watch-center became used to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe coming in. Firestar and Inferno were quick to become regular playmates with Sideswipe and it wasn't uncommon to see the three of them playing together. Sunstreaker, on the other hand, didn't seem to be as interested in playing with the other younglings. More often than not, the caretaker, a green femme named Vesta, would find Sunstreaker in a corner by himself or otherwise avoiding the other younglings. She made note of this and passed it along to Ratchet, who in turn reported it in to Perceptor and the rest of the team.

"It may be too early to discern whether or not it is truly a matter to be concerned about," Perceptor told Ratchet over video link. "They are, after all, still young."

"Yes, but we did decide that it was important for them to interact with other younglings," Ratchet pointed out. "Sunstreaker isn't doing that. Vesta has told me that he goes out of his way to avoid the others. The only one he pays any attention to is Sideswipe."

Perceptor crossed his arm over his chest, mulling over this information. "Perhaps Sunstreaker isn't yet ready to reach out to others. It may be that he hasn't developed the desire to socialize." He paused and focused again on Ratchet. "And Sideswipe has?"

Ratchet nodded. "Sideswipe has apparently made friends in a couple of the other younglings and he seems to be content in the watch-center."

"Does Sunstreaker seem to be upset about that?"

The red and white mech took a moment to think on that. "So far as I've seen, no."

Perceptor gave a thoughtful hum. "Keep an optic on Sunstreaker and have Vesta do the same. Tell her to report any indications that Sunstreaker might feel any rejection while the twins are in the watch-center."

"Do you think that might have something to do with his refusal to play with the other younglings?"

"It very well might," the scientist replied. "Keep me informed on this, if you would, Ratchet. I'd like to look into this myself at some point, as well."

"I would imagine," Ratchet said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Perceptor gave a smile of his own. "This is all very fascinating. I'm glad this opportunity came along."

"So am I," Ratchet replied, turning his head to glance at the napping twins, a warm expression on his face.

* * *

When the door to the watch-center slid open, Firestar looked up from where she, Inferno, Red Alert and Sideswipe had been building a small city from the datablocks they'd collected. She gave a small frown when she saw a large blue and white mech step in with three younglings in tow. Elbowing Inferno, Firestar pointed to two of the younglings that had come in. The older youngling followed his friend's gaze and gave a disappointed groan.

"We got trouble," he muttered.

Sideswipe blinked and looked over to the new arrivals. He tilted his head on one side, wondering why Inferno and Firestar seemed upset. The new arrivals, one quadruped and a set of near identical youngling mechs, stood by their guardian as Vesta handed over a datapad. Sideswipe peered around Red Alert, trying to get a better look at the younglings that had come in.

The quadruped, a sleek, black model, sat quietly on his haunches by his guardian's feet, while other two stood, shoving each other back and forth. If their guardian was annoyed by the two's behavior, it couldn't be seen through the visor and mask that covered his face. He merely continued to fill out the datapad that he'd been handed. Once he was finished with it, he crouched down to his charges' level. Words passed between them, then the blue mech left, leaving the three younglings to join the others in the watch-center.

"Who they?" Sideswipe asked, turning to Inferno and Firestar.

Firestar pouted. "Rumble an' Frenzy," she said with irritation in her voice. "They're mean. Ravage is okay though."

"I thought they left," Red Alert muttered, shifting to hide behind Inferno.

"_**I**_ thought they got kicked out," Inferno huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sideswipe watched Rumble and Frenzy as the two younglings headed over to a corner of the room, where they proceeded to gang up on one of the other younglings to 'obtain' a toy from the little blue bot. Curiosity about the other two filled Sideswipe and he stood up to wobble over to them. Firestar grabbed his arm.

"Sides, no!" she exclaimed. "They're bad!"

Sideswipe tried to pull Firestar off him. It wasn't like he was going to join the two newcomers; he was just curious about them. "Leggo!"

Firestar shook her head. "No! If you talk to 'em," she began. She trailed off for a second, trying to think of a way to finish that. She glared at Sideswipe. "If you talk to 'em, _I'll_ never talk t'you again!"

Sideswipe looked at Firestar, then to Rumble and Frenzy on the other side of the room. He pried Firestar off him. "Jus' wanna look."

Firestar glared at him again, but let go of his arm and plopped onto the floor with a frown. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. Sideswipe didn't seem fazed at all by his friend's actions and toddled over to the two newcomers. The quadruped that had come in with them had contented himself to curl up in the corner with a small ball, ignoring both his two brothers and the little red youngling that approached.

Rumble turned around as Sideswipe approached. "Hey, Frenzy, look at the newbie," he said.

The other youngling looked up and studied Sideswipe from behind his red visor. "Well, well, what do we got here?" He stepped forward to circle the other youngling. "Never seen ya before."

Sideswipe focused on Frenzy. The other bot, though obviously older than him, wasn't much bigger than he was, but he'd never seen a youngling like him before. Frenzy was thinner than the other younglings in the watch center and the odd square designs on his chest were something new to Sideswipe. Rumble was built the same as Frenzy, but where Frenzy was red and black, he was blue and purple.

"What's your name?" Rumble asked.

"'M Sideswipe."

"Sideswipe, eh?" Frenzy repeated. "Must have come when Soundwave had us in Tyger Pax."

Sunstreaker wandered over to check out the two new younglings, having noticed his brother talking to Rumble and Frenzy. He studied the two of them and crossed his arms over his chest. "You look weird."

"Same to you, buddy," Frenzy replied, nonchalantly.

Sunstreaker's optics narrowed at Frenzy. For a moment, it looked as though he might pick a fight with the older youngling, but he stayed quiet. Frenzy turned back to Sideswipe and jerked his thumb at Sunstreaker.

"Relative?"

Sideswipe flickered his optics in slight confusion. He was only beginning to really understand the Cybertronian language, so he took a while to decipher what Frenzy had asked. "He's Sunstreaker. My brother."

Rumble looked at Sunstreaker. "Brother, huh."

Sunstreaker tilted his head. "We twins," he boasted.

Rumble grinned. "Well, whaddya know?" he said. "Me an' Frenzy are twins, too."

That caught Sunstreaker's attention. Though his own understanding of Cybertronian was limited, he could work out more than his brother could and, as a result, was better at understanding Ratchet when he was talking to Perceptor and Wheeljack. He'd heard them talking about twins like he and Sideswipe on more than one occasion and what he'd heard from them and what Frenzy was saying didn't quite make sense.

"Twins?" he repeated, pointing to Rumble and Frenzy in succession. "'Ceptor says twins not found a lot."

Frenzy's grin matched his brother's. "Maybe twins like you guys," he said. "But cassette-twins like Rumble and me are more common."

Sunstreaker frowned. "'Sette?"

Frenzy tilted his head. He studied the yellow twin for a moment, then shook his head. "Never mind. It's jus' me an' Rumble are different than you an' your brother." He grinned suddenly. "C'mon," he said. "You can meet Ravage."

With that, Frenzy looked at Rumble and tilted his head towards Ravage. Rumble nodded and dragged Sideswipe over to where Ravage had curled in a ball with his head resting on his front feet as he napped. Frenzy began ushering a protesting Sunstreaker over as Rumble sat Sideswipe down near Ravage. Once Frenzy got Sunstreaker over, he gave the yellow twin and final shover and Sunstreaker, with an indignant yelp, plopped down next to Sideswipe.

Without a word, Frenzy crouched down to Ravage's level and began prodding him with one finger. After a moment, Rumble flashed the younger twins a grin and bent down as well.

"Watch this," he told them, joining in poking his eldest brother. "Ravage, wake up! C'mon!"

Ravage gave a growling sound as his brothers prodded him. He shifted, raising one paw and placing it over his head in an attempt to ignore his younger brothers. Rumble and Frenzy, though, would have none of that. They persisted in their prodding, with both of them doing double-time in attempt to get the older cassette to pull himself out of his stubborn state of recharge.

"C'mon, Ravage!" Rumble exclaimed, beginning to sound exasperated. "C'mon, go 'grr' for the sparklings--Yeeeow!"

Rumble's hand was caught in Ravage's mouth, the quadruped having finally had enough with the younger cassettes' prodding. The blue cassette pulled, trying to pry his hand out of Ravage's clenched jaws, dancing to and fro with frustration. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both began squealing with laughter, amused by Rumble's antics. Ravage, irritated by his brothers and the two laughing younglings, stood up and padded over to another corner of the watch-center. He glared sharply at his brothers before curling up and returning to his nap.

A familiar chuckle sounded above the red and yellow sparklings. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stopped laughing and lifted their heads to see Ironhide standing behind them. The red mech was smiling down at his young charges, an amused shine in his bright blue optics. Sideswipe turned himself around and lifted his arms, urging Ironhide to pick him up. Ironhide obliged, picking both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker up.

"'Ave you two been behavin' yourselves?" he asked.

Sideswipe nodded with a happy chirp. Sunstreaker merely gave a tilt of his head. Ironhide took that as being as close to a positive answer he was going to get. He held the twins to him and looked down at the twin cassettes that stood by his feet.

"Made some new friends 'ave we?" He gave the two cassettes a look over before giving them a friendly grin. "Better get these rascals home."

"Right," Frenzy said. He placed his hands on his hips and looked up to the twins in Ironhide's arms. "See ya 'round, sparklings."

Rumble pulled his hand out of his mouth, where he'd stuck it after Ravage had bitten him, and waved to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. "Yeah, see ya."

As Ironhide signed them out of the watch-center, Sideswipe looked over to the group of other sparklings playing with datablocks. He tried to wave good-bye to Firestar, but the little red femme glared at him before crossing her arms over her chest and turning away from him. Sideswipe's face fell. Maybe the other youngling was going to be true to her word and not talk to him again. The thought made his spark hurt and his lower lip quivered.

"Sides?" Ironhide asked, noticing the upset expression on his young son's face. "What's wrong?"

Sideswipe said nothing and just buried his face in Ironhide's chest. Sunstreaker looked at his brother, a worried frown on his own face. His spark gave a twinge of pain and his frown deepened. He blinked his optics and placed his hand on his chest, just above where his spark-casing was protected by layers of circuitry and his basic-armor. He didn't understand why his spark hurt; nothing had happened to him, so how come he hurt?

Ironhide took observation of the twins' behavior and decided that he'd talk to Ratchet about it. He headed towards their home and as soon as he entered the keycodes to open the door to their home-unit, he looked in to see if Ratchet had come home yet. When he saw that his mate was not yet home, he set the twins on the couch in the main room of the unit and went to fetch a couple cubes of low grade for them.

A chime alerted Ironhide of a call on their communication monitor. The weapons specialist turned and hit the key to open the commline. The monitor flickered to life and Jazz's visage appeared on the screen. The visored young mech looked anxious and excited, as well a bit tired, as he greeted Ironhide.

"Hey, Ironhide," Jazz said. "Ratchet told me t'call ya. He wants ya t'bring the twins over."

"Alright," Ironhide replied, a bit confused. "Is somethin' up over there, Jazz?"

Jazz's face split into a wide grin. His excitement overtook the tiredness that had been apparent on his face. "I'd say so. Ratch jus' declared our younglin' took t'his frame."

Ironhide gave a grin of his own. "Tha's great news, Jazz! Gimme a few breems an' I'll 'ave the twins over."

"Take yer time," Jazz said. "Ratchet's gotta pull Prowl outta stasis an' do some basic checks on the younglin'. No need t'rush."

Ironhide chuckled. "Go get yourself a cube of energon, Jazz. You look like you're 'bout t'give yourself spark-arrest."

"Alright, alright."

"Hey," Ironhide added quickly. "Congrats, Jazz."

Jazz flashed him a grin. "Thanks."

* * *

Sunstreaker studied the tiny bundle of grey basic-armor with wide optics. The new-birthed sparkling was cradled in Jazz's arms and the visored mech was singing softly to him. The song was a traditional verse welcoming new life, often used to help newly-birthed sparklings identify the sound of a creator's voice. The sparkling chirruped at his creator, reaching with his small arms to brush his hands against Jazz's chin.

Prowl, resting on the berth he typically shared with Jazz, sang along with his mate to welcome their creation to the world. His optics, usually a sharp shade of blue, were soft as he took in the sight of his sparkling in his mate's arms. After Ratchet had pulled him out of stasis once the operation to carefully separate the sparkling from his own spark was complete, the first thing he'd seen was Jazz sitting on the side of the berth with their sparkling cradled carefully in his arms. For Prowl, he could not think of a time when his spark had burned with such love and pride.

"That sparkling?" Sunstreaker asked, pointing to the bundle in Jazz's arms. He looked to Ratchet for an answer to his question.

"Yes, Sunstreaker," Ratchet replied, a smile on his own lips as he watched his friends. "He's a sparkling. Just like how you were not that long ago."

Sunstreaker blinked and looked back at the sparkling. "Sparkling is small."

The medic chuckled. "Yes, he is. His frame will grow with time and upgrades."

Sunstreaker tilted his head as he looked at the sparkling. Prowl and Jazz had finished their song and the sparkling was cooing softly at his creators. Sunstreaker, curious about the sparkling, climbed up onto the chair that was sitting next to the berth and tried to peek over Prowl. He put his hands on Prowl's arm and used it to keep himself balanced as he stood on his toes to look.

Prowl turned his head to Sunstreaker and then shifted, picking the yellow youngling up to move him to his other side so he could see better. Jazz moved closer, repositioning himself to present the sparkling to Sunstreaker.

"Say hello, Sunny," Jazz told him.

Sunstreaker gave a chirp. He was young enough that he could still use the electronic chirps and coos of sparklings. The chirp that he'd given caught the attention of the sparkling in Jazz's arms and he turned to Sunstreaker with a series of chirps of his own. Sunstreaker blinked at him and replied.

Jazz gave a laugh. "Primus, only a couple joors old an' already talkative."

Prowl looked at Jazz with an amused smile. "He gets it from you, I'm sure."

While Sunstreaker was having a conversation with the sparkling, Sideswipe looked at Jazz. "What sparkling's name?" he asked.

Prowl and Jazz exchanged looks. They'd been discussing names for a long while now, but to this day, had not yet decided on one. Jazz gave Sideswipe an embarrassed grin.

"We haven't given 'im one yet," he told the red sparkling.

"His name Bluestreak," Sunstreaker spoke up, a matter-of-fact tone in his voice.

Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, and Ironhide looked at the yellow youngling. Sunstreaker didn't flinch under their glances and stood his ground, looking quite confident in his statement. Prowl studied Sunstreaker with his sharp blue optics. Ratchet stepped forward and picked up his charge.

"Sunstreaker, you should leave naming the sparkling to his creators," he told the yellow youngling.

"I not name him," Sunstreaker protested. "He said his name Bluestreak!"

Sideswipe spoke up. "He did!" He gave a couple chirrups and clicks. "That mean Bluestreak."

The sparkling in Jazz's arms repeated the sounds Sideswipe had made. Jazz looked down at his creation and saw the smile on his face. He looked over to his mate, who looked a little confused at the twins' words.

"Well, what d'you think, Prowl?" Jazz asked.

Prowl gave it some thought. "It seems surprisingly right to me."

The visored mech smiled. "Then that's it," he said. "His name is Bluestreak."

Bluestreak gave a gurgling laugh and reached out to pat Jazz's cheek, as if to say 'you got that right!'

_**Author's Note:**__ Pffft. I have no control over this story anymore. The muses write it themselves. Anyways, so there you go. Bluestreak's arrived. Hope that pleases y'all. _


	7. Chapter Six

_**Author's Note:**__ Like with all other fics I've updated recently, I apologize for the wait. It's hard to write when there's a lot of stuff going on in life. Seat yourself, have a drink, enjoy the ride.  
**Warnings:**__ Uwaaah? *has nothing*  
**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own them, but that still doesn't stop me. :P _

Chapter Six

Sometime after they'd gotten home from welcoming Bluestreak to the world, Ratchet and Ironhide went about their usual schedule of getting the twins refueled and ready for recharge. Once that was done, the two of them retired to the main room of their living unit, where they sat down to relax. It'd been a long solar-cycle and it did Ratchet a world of good to just sit back with Ironhide.

Ironhide had switched on the vid-screen to a low volume. Neither he nor Ratchet paid much attention to the report feeds that were played at the end of the solar-cycle, but the sounds made for good background noise while they relaxed. Ratchet was curled up against his mate as they sat, a cube of mid-grade cupped in his red hands. Ironhide's arm was wrapped warmly around the medic's shoulders with a cube of his own energon in his other hand.

It was a quiet evening, well-deserved. The two adult mechs finished their energon cubes slowly, content with spending time with each other. Since they'd both been busy with their jobs recently, with Ratchet returning to work and Ironhide having to put in extra hours at the Prime's tower, the time they'd had to spend together had become less and less.

As it began to get late, Ironhide and Ratchet moved to their room. While Ratchet climbed onto the recharge berth, Ironhide set the security codes on their unit and made sure all the artificial lights were switched off. As he joined his mate on the berth, he remembered something that he'd wanted to talk to Ratchet about.

"Somethin' was a bit odd 'bout the twins earlier," he said.

Ratchet shifted his head to look at Ironhide. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I went to fetch 'em from the watch-center, Sideswipe was acting like he was hurt," Ironhide elaborated. "Then Sunstreaker put his hand over his spark, like he was hurt, too. Does that mean anythin'?"

Ratchet frowned slightly. "Did they have any signs of damage from rough-play?"

"None," Ironhide shook his head. "Both of them were fine. Sideswipe jus' looked hurt and upset."

Ratchet was quiet for a moment, thinking over this. "I've heard of a phenomenon in twins where one can feel what the other does, but it only happens in rare cases. Perceptor would know more about it, but it's something that happens between common-spark twins."

"You think our boys might be common-sparks?"

"It's a possibility, but common-spark twins are extremely rare," Ratchet said. He paused. "They're due for an upgrade soon. Perceptor wants to take at look at their sparks and that's the best time to find out if they're common-spark."

"I see," Ironhide murmured. He gave a yawn, reached over and pulled Ratchet closer to him. "Well, so long as they're alright, I don't care if they're common-spark. They're still our boys."

Ratchet smiled and off-lined his optics. "Yes, they are."

* * *

"Sunstreaker, why don't you go play with some of the others?" Vesta asked from where she was crouching down next to the yellow youngling.

"Don't wanna," Sunstreaker replied, not looking up from the toy he was playing with.

Vesta gave a worried frown. She'd been asked to try to persuade the older twin to interact with the other younglings, but every attempt for the last few cycles had been in vain. Sunstreaker just flat-out refused to pay any attention to anyone else, except for Sideswipe and, on the occasion they came in, Rumble and Frenzy. The green femme was starting to really worry about the little yellow sparkling. She knew the importance of interaction at the sparkling and youngling stages and Sunstreaker's refusal to play with the others gave her plenty to be concerned about.

"Come on, Sunstreaker, let's go visit Moonracer," Vesta urged, gesturing towards the named sparkling. "She'll play tag with you."

"Don't like tag," Sunstreaker protested.

Vesta sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. You don't want to play with the others and you don't like tag. But you must be lonely playing by yourself."

Sunstreaker shook his head. "'M not lonely," he said, tossing his toy aside and picking up another.

An idea struck Vesta and she took the toy away from Sunstreaker, who gave a yelp of objection. "I want you to try something for me," she told him. "Let's go paint."

Picking Sunstreaker up, she carried him over to another corner of the watch-center. There was a table set up in the corner and Vesta set the yellow twin into one of the seats surrounding it. She walked over to the cabinet nearby and began pulling out a few supplies for Sunstreaker to work with, paints, brushes, and thin sheets of metal. Setting one sheet in front of Sunstreaker and handing him a canister of red paint, she sat down next to him.

"Okay, Sunstreaker," she said. "I want you to paint me a picture of your family. Can you do that?"

Sunstreaker blinked his optics at her. "Paint?"

Vesta nodded. She took a sheet of metal for herself and dipped a brush into one of the paints. "Like this," she told him, drawing a line with the paint.

After a moment of watching, Sunstreaker picked up a brush, holding it awkwardly in his small hand and, following the femme's example, dunked it into the red paint. He pressed the brush against his metal sheet and began painting shapes. Vesta smiled as Sunstreaker began picking up the idea of painting.

"Yeah, that's it," she encouraged as Sunstreaker looked up at her for approval. "Very good! Keep at it; I'm going to check on the others."

With Sunstreaker focused on painting, Vesta figured that, if he wouldn't play with the other younglings, at least he was doing something productive. Maybe painting would help him develop differently, without causing negative side-issues. If Sunstreaker decided he liked it, maybe she'd even send some paints home with him to use when he wasn't here at the center.

After making sure that the other younglings were doing well and not traumatizing her new assistant, Vesta returned to the painting area to check in on how Sunstreaker was faring with his painting. The little yellow sparkling was still busily working on the picture, though he'd abandoned the brush to continue painting with his fingers, finding that it was just easier. He had finished drawing both his brother and himself and looked to be working on a depiction of Ratchet.

"That's looking good, Sunstreaker," Vesta complimented.

Sunstreaker beamed as he added white to the picture. "Me an' Sideswipe. Rashet an' 'Hide not done."

Vesta nodded in understanding. She sat down and watched Sunstreaker paint. "Do you like painting?"

Sunstreaker nodded. "Yeah, but it messy."

"You're supposed to use a brush, so you won't get so messy," Vesta told him, a small laugh escaping her.

"Don't like brush," Sunstreaker replied, sticking his little glossa out in concentration.

"So I see."

Sunstreaker continued to paint, seeming very much to enjoy it. As he worked, one of the other younglings came over to see what was going on. The little green and white femme, Moonracer, held a toy in her arms, her yellow optics wide in awe as she looked at Sunstreaker's painting. She gave a series of clicks and chirps, complimenting him the best she could in sparklings' speech.

Sunstreaker gave a small smile, but gave no other response. After Moonracer came over, a couple more joined her, including Sideswipe. The red sparkling climbed up onto a chair next to his brother and, leaning against the table, watched Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker seemed to brighten with his brother's attention, something that Vesta noted to tell Ratchet when he came to pick up the twins later.

When Sunstreaker finished, he sat up straight with a proud smile on his face. Moonracer, Sideswipe and the other sparklings that had come over to watch clapped their hands for him, which made him beam. Vesta picked up the sheet metal painting, wrote Sunstreaker's name in the corner and stood up.

"I'm going to put this where it will get dry," she said. "Why don't you have Wildstrike help you wash and then go play?"

Sunstreaker paused for a moment, then nodded, jumping down from his seat and wandering off to find the watch-center assistant. Once Wildstrike had Sunstreaker clean, he sent the little yellow sparkling over to the others. Joining his brother in building a small city with the datablocks, Sunstreaker began enjoying himself. Moonracer came over to join them, shyly offering to help them build. Surprisingly, Sunstreaker approved.

"You build school," he instructed her, handing her an armful of blocks. When the much younger sparkling blinked her optics at him, he tried again in the sparkling language. It took him a couple tries to get the instructions right; as he began speaking basic Cybertronian and continued developing towards the youngling stage, he started slowly losing his grip on the otherwise useless sparklings' speech.

Once Moonracer understood what Sunstreaker wanted her to do, she began piling blocks up. The three sparklings worked together for a long time, building their city. Sideswipe was content to build his third of the city, but Sunstreaker seemed to like helping Moonracer, if one could call his orders helping. He would point to her buildings and click at her, telling her what to do. Moonracer was young enough that she honestly thought that Sunstreaker was being helpful and not bossy, so she did what the older sparkling said without question.

When Ratchet came in, Sunstreaker was still busy "helping" Moonracer. Ratchet, though he could tell his son was being a bossy little 'bot, was relieved that Sunstreaker finally seemed to be getting along with someone besides Sideswipe. He watched Sunstreaker for a moment before Sideswipe bounded over to hug his leg.

"Rashet!"

At his brother's cry, Sunstreaker looked up from where he'd picked Moonracer up around the waist so she could place a datablock on top of one of the towers she and Sunstreaker had built. As soon as Moonracer chirped at him to let him know she was done, the yellow sparkling set her back down. He patted her head, which made her giggle, then toddled over to Ratchet.

"I see you've made a new friend," Ratchet said, smiling down at Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker shrugged, something he'd picked up from Rumble and Frenzy. "Maybe friend."

"Maybe friend," Ratchet repeated. He looked up to talk to Vesta, who'd come over with Sunstreaker's painting in hand. "What's this?"

"Sunstreaker painted it," Vesta told him, handing him the metal sheet. "He seemed to enjoy it a lot, so I thought, maybe I could send some of our extra paints home with you so he could continue?"

Ratchet looked at the painting with a fond smile. "Yes, I think that would be a great idea."

Vesta nodded, then headed back to the painting area to fetch the paints and a few brushes. Ratchet thanked her once she returned and spoke with her a bit as he signed the twins out. Holding the painting under his arm and the twins' hands in his, he led the two of them outside and down the street. After a few breems walking, Sideswipe looked around, confused.

"This not way home," he told Ratchet.

"No, it isn't," Ratchet replied. "We're going to the medical center."

Sunstreaker frowned. "Why?"

"I made appointments for you to get your upgrades."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe exchanged glances from either side of their guardian. They'd heard about upgrades from older younglings like Rumble and Frenzy. The older set of twins had been pretty vague about the process and hadn't told them much more than it involved opening up their spark chambers. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe hadn't been too thrilled to hear about that; they weren't quite sure what their spark chambers really were or what they did, but the thought of opening them scared the smaller set of twins.

Sideswipe squeezed Ratchet's hands with both of his little ones. "Don't want upgrade," he protested.

"You want to stay a sparkling forever?" Ratchet asked, stopping and picking up the younger twin. "Every sparkling your age gets their first upgrade. It's nothing bad. Your friends, Inferno and Firestar, have had upgrades."

At the mention of Firestar, Sideswipe gave a frown. The little red femme hadn't talked to him since Rumble and Frenzy had come into the watch-center nearly half a deca-cycle ago. It seemed that she was holding herself to her promise never to talk to him again. He crossed his arms over his chest, as if he were trying to protect himself from the pain of Firestar's refusal to play with him anymore. Sunstreaker, from his spot on the ground, gave a frown of his own, unhappy with the feelings radiating from his brother and invading his own spark.

Ratchet took note of the behavior and, recalling what Ironhide had said a couple of solar cycles ago, took his adoptive sons to the side of the street, where they wouldn't be blocking the path of the others walking and driving around that particular section of the city. He set Sideswipe back down next to Sunstreaker so he could address the two of them together.

"I want you to tell me something," he said, putting one hand on each twins' shoulder. "Can you two feel it in your sparks when the other is upset?"

Sideswipe blinked his optics at Ratchet. "Like when 'Streaker is mad I'm playin' with 'Ferno?"

Sunstreaker crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from both Sideswipe and Ratchet. "Or when Sideswipe is sad 'cause Firestar doesn't like him anymore?"

Their responses alone told Ratchet much more than any physical study might have. He moved his left hand from Sunstreaker's shoulder to the older twin's head. "You two really are something else," he murmured. He looked again at Sideswipe and focused on the red sparkling's fear of getting upgraded. "Now, let me tell you something. Getting upgrades is nothing scary. It won't hurt and you won't be alone. I'll be right next to you."

Sideswipe looked up at him. "Promise?"

Ratchet nodded. "I promise."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe held up their hands, extending the smallest fingers, mimicking something they'd seen other younglings at the watch-center. They had identical looks of determination and anxiety on their faces. Ratchet, knowing exactly what the two of them wanted, hooked his own fingers with the twins'.

"I'll be right next to you as long as you need me."

_**Author's Note:**__ Ugh, how did this wind up so...fluffy and cute? Oh, yeah. Nevermind. *goes to chip at the mountain of updates she needs to get back to*_


	8. Chapter Seven

_**Author's Note:**__ Once again, I apologize for the wait. I lost my train of thought on this for a while, but it eventually pulled back into the station.  
__**Warnings: **__Nothing to really warn about, I don't think.  
__**Disclaimer: **__Since last chapter, I have gotten __**this**__ close to owning them. But then I got caught crawling around in the air vents. So, sadly, I have not yet gained the rights. They're still Hasbro's. _

Chapter Seven

"Are these the twins then?" the technician asked as Ratchet and Perceptor approached with the twins in their arms.

Sideswipe, from his position in Perceptor's arms, took one glance at the large purple mech that had spoken and hid his face in Perceptor's shoulder with a soft whimper. While he knew by this point in his life that there were all sorts of mechs, he'd never seen a mech quite like the technician. The purple mech was tall and bulky with a hexagonal head and a single, round yellow optic in the middle of an otherwise featureless face. He only had one hand; the other looked like a nozzle, but Sideswipe wasn't quite sure what it was.

Perceptor gave a nod in response to the technician's question. "Yes, this is Sideswipe," he said, hoisting the little red sparkling up. "Ratchet has Sunstreaker."

Shockwave stepped over to Ratchet. He raised his hand to lift Sunstreaker's chin with one finger so he could look at the sparkling. Sunstreaker promptly did what any sparkling would do when they felt threatened; he bit the mech's finger. Ratchet gave a shout of shock and helped pry the yellow twin's mouth open to release Shockwave's finger before turning the sparkling around in his arms to look Sunstreaker in the optic.

"Sunstreaker, that was uncalled for!" he scolded.

The older twin crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Shockwave from his position in Ratchet's arms. He did not like this new mech at all and he was going to make sure that the purple mech knew it.

"I don't like you," he told Shockwave.

Shockwave could tell this was not going to be an easy task. He was quite glad his unique design made him expressionless; he didn't like the yellow sparkling, either. Instead of making anything worse with Sunstreaker, he led Ratchet and Perceptor into the small operating room where he would make the upgrades. The two other adult mechs had permission to stay with the sparklings, in order to keep them calm.

Neither twin settled easily onto the berths. Sideswipe would yell, which made Sunstreaker upset, causing him to yell. It took Ratchet and Perceptor a while to calm them down enough for Shockwave to put them in a light stasis and hook them up to monitors that would aid the upgrading process.

Ratchet noted, while Shockwave was preparing for the upgrades, that Sunstreaker, even in stasis, was holding pretty tightly to his hand.

* * *

Ironhide was running late. He worked at the Prime's Tower in the upper levels of Iacon as a trainer for the guard and he'd had to stay late for an inspection and evaluation. He had been hoping to be around to pick up Sunstreaker and Sideswipe with Ratchet so he could be there when they got their upgrades, but Sentinel Prime had insisted on the inspection and Ironhide could not let him down. The moment he'd been free to go, Ironhide had hurried out of the Prime's Tower, transformed into his vehicle mode and headed straight for home.

Upon reaching the unit, he checked the console next to the door to see if Ratchet and the twins had returned home. According to the data displayed on the screen, Ratchet had entered the passcode to allow him and the twins into the unit. Excited to see his boys, Ironhide tapped his code into the keypad and the door slid open.

Ratchet was in the living room, a cube of energon in one hand and a medical datapad in the other. Ironhide went over to sit beside his mate, putting his arms around the medic. Ratchet gave a soft hum of acknowledgement and used one finger to switch the page on the datapad.

"Sentinel kept you late again, didn't he?" Ratchet asked.

"Couldn't be helped," Ironhide said. "Had t'do an inspection on the guards an' make sure the weapons were in working order."

"Mm-hmm."

Ironhide could tell that his mate was more than a little irritated that he hadn't been there with him and the twins. He had to make up for it, but he was never quite sure how to appease his mate. "How're the boys?"

"They're in their room, recharging," Ratchet said. "They'll be in recharge for a while yet; their bodies have to get used to the upgrades. Their systems are adapting to the new programming, which is easiest to do while their recharging. They probably won't wake until tomorrow."

Ironhide never quite understood how their race functioned or how upgrades worked; he was a mech built for combat and his knowledge was mostly of fighting techniques and weapons. He typically left the medical knowledge to his mate, who'd studied for years to understand the mechanics of their race.

"Ratch, I wish I coulda been there," he told his mate softly. "Frag, I _wanted_ t'be there. But y'know my job."

"Ironhide," Ratchet cut him off, finally setting his datapad down and turning to Ironhide. "I know. I know you wanted to be there. I understand your work sometimes keeps you from home. The boys don't."

Ironhide grimaced. "I suppose I oughta talk to 'em about that."

"When they wake up," Ratchet said.

Ironhide was silent for a moment before speaking up. "I can't wait t'see 'em."

Almost as if on cue, Sideswipe stepped into the living room, rubbing one hand over his face with a yawn. His blue optics were dimmed and he was obviously still groggy. He stumbled over his own feet. As Ironhide looked at Sideswipe, he noticed that the youngling, aside from having obviously grown taller with his upgrade, had been giving a new paintjob and been fitted with a new helm. Where his original paintjob had been the simplest black and red, Sideswipe now sported a white base-frame, red shin-guards, chest armor and arm guards, as well as black hip-guards and black helm.

"Primus, Ratchet," Ironhide murmured. "Makes you proud, doesn't it?"

Ratchet nodded. "It does," he replied. He looked at Sideswipe. "How do you feel, Sides?"

Sideswipe looked up at Ratchet and Ironhide and blinked at them a couple of times, optics brightening slightly with each blink. "'M hungry," he muttered. "I want some energon."

Ironhide stood up. "I'll getcha some," he told Sideswipe.

Sideswipe gave a nod and headed over to the couch to climb up next to Ratchet. Ratchet put his arm around Sideswipe and held the little mech to him. "Is your brother awake yet?"

"Mm, no," Sideswipe replied shaking his head. "He's still sleepin'."

Ironhide came back with a small cube of energon for Sideswipe and sat down on the other side of the youngling. "Here ya go, Sides."

Sideswipe took the cube with a muttered thanks and began sipping at it slowly. He had half of it gone in a few clicks and leaned against Ratchet, letting his optics go offline. He clutched onto the cube, though his grip loosened a bit when he fell back into recharge. Ironhide gave a chuckle and gently pulled the cube out of his charge's hands.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?"

"They'll be juveniles before we know it," Ratchet added. "Getting their alt-modes and tearing up the streets of the city."

Ironhide laughed. "Not if Prowl has anythin' t'say about it."

* * *

After receiving their upgrades, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were kept at home until they'd gotten used to their new armor and how it felt on their bodies. It was an awkward few solar cycles while they adjusted, but they spent plenty of time playing with toys they kept in their room and Jazz brought Bluestreak over to play, which always made the twins happy; they'd taken a particular shine to the gray and red sparkling. Bluestreak was one of the few that Sunstreaker seemed willing to play with, actually, so Ratchet was glad that Prowl and Jazz didn't mind letting the twins play with their youngling.

With the younglings playing in the twins' room, Ratchet took the chance to catch up with the data he'd received from Shockwave when the other mech had given the twins their upgrades. He had to sort through everything and pass it along to Perceptor. It had been decided that it was time to bring the twins back to the Science Institute for a few tests, but before they could get any tests ready, all available information needed to be sorted and looked over by everyone on the team.

Ratchet was in the middle of one of Shockwave's reports when Bluestreak came waddling quickly out of the twins' room, energon tears running down his cheeks and hiccupping clicks and chirps. Ratchet, alarmed, stood up and went over to Bluestreak, picking the little grey and red mechling up to comfort him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe appeared in the hallway, both wearing identical looks of confusion.

"What happened in there?" Ratchet asked, concerned.

Sideswipe shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. We were playing, then Blue said something."

"What did he say?"

Bluestreak babbled a long string of chirps and clicks at Ratchet, pointing a small finger at Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Ratchet, not able to understand sparklings' speech, turned to his young sons for translation, as he usually did when Bluestreak spoke. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe merely exchanged blank stares before shrugging in unison.

"Can't you understand him?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge.

Sunstreaker shook his head. "Nuh-uh," he told Ratchet. "Haven't been able to for a while."

Bluestreak whimpered in Ratchet's arms. The medic bounced the sparkling in his arms for a minute to try to comfort him.

"That's actually not surprising," Ratchet murmured. "When Shockwave upgraded you, your syntax protocols were overridden. Any knowledge you had of the sparklings' speech was probably overridden to be replaced with coding to help you understand our language better."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe blinked at Ratchet; that was way too much for them to really comprehend. All they knew was they couldn't understand Bluestreak anymore and it was a problem for the other sparkling.

There was a knock at the door and Ratchet realized it was time for Jazz to pick up Bluestreak. With the upset sparkling in his arms, the medic went over to the door and hit the key to open it. Jazz, as soon as the door opened, gave a grin, which morphed into a frown when he saw that his sparkling was upset.

"Is somethin' wrong?" the black and white mech asked, holding his arms out to take Bluestreak.

Ratchet stepped out to speak to Jazz, closing the door behind him, leaving the twins to stand in the hallway, confused and worried. Sideswipe turned to his brother, a frown on his face. He really didn't like this.

"You think we're gonna get in trouble?" he asked.

"Because Blue can't talk to us anymore?" Sunstreaker arched an optic ridge.

"He was really unhappy," Sideswipe pointed out. "What if Jazz doesn't bring 'im over to play anymore?"

Sunstreaker shrugged, but otherwise gave no response. Sideswipe slumped his shoulders; he felt pretty bad because Bluestreak was upset. He really liked the little sparkling and hoped that Bluestreak would still come over to play. Language had never been a problem before. They'd always spoken better than Bluestreak and the younger 'bot had never had an issue with that.

Sideswipe looked up as Ratchet came back in. "Is Blue gonna be okay?"

Ratchet nodded. "He's just upset. He'll be alright, Sideswipe."

"Is Jazz gonna bring him over tomorrow?" the red twin asked.

"We'll see," Ratchet replied. He herded his boys to the couch and fetched a couple cubes of energon for them. As he sat next to them and handed the cubes to them, he spoke up again. "Actually, tomorrow we're going to see Perceptor and the others."

Sunstreaker gave a frown. "Why?"

"Well, you haven't seen Wheeljack in a while. Or Skyfire and Starscream."

Sideswipe hunched over his cube of energon. "Don't like Starscream. He's no fun."

Ratchet laughed. "Well, that's a true statement."

"How come we gotta go see them?" Sunstreaker asked.

"They want to see you," Ratchet explained. "They want to see how much you've grown."

"We've grown a lot!" Sideswipe said, proudly.

"Yes, you have," Ratchet smiled. "They'll be glad to see that."

Sunstreaker still wasn't satisfied, but he quieted down, drinking his energon. When he was finished with it, he hopped down from the couch and wandered back into his room. Sideswipe soon followed him, leaving Ratchet alone to look over his datapads until Ironhide came home.

* * *

As they headed for the Science Institute, Ratchet, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were joined by Wheeljack, who'd been in the area looking for a few needed items for a test he was running in his lab. Since the study on the twins had been put on a hiatus while the twins grew up a bit, the masked mech had returned to his usual experiments. Today, he was taking a break from them to regroup with the others to see the twins.

"Well, would you look at these two?" Wheeljack said happily, ear fins flashing as he spoke. "I almost didn't recognize 'em!"

"Hello, Wheeljack," Ratchet told his friend. The twins echoed the greeting.

"It's good to see you boys," Wheeljack continued. "How long's it been since the last time I saw these two?"

"Not since they started going to the watch center," Ratchet said.

"Sounds 'bout right," the scientist murmured. He got in step next to Sideswipe, who held onto Ratchet's hand as they walked along. "How's that going, by the way?"

"It's been an experience. Sideswipe seems to like it much better than Sunstreaker does."

Sunstreaker piped up. "I like goin' to paint!"

Sideswipe snickered. "That's all you do there. You don't even play with anybody!"

"I do too!"

"Bossin' Moony around doesn't count!" Sideswipe told him.

"I play with Rumble an' Frenzy!" Sunstreaker protested.

Ratchet stopped, turning to Sunstreaker. "With who?" he asked, voice full of concern.

Sunstreaker blinked up at Ratchet. "Rumble an' Frenzy."

Ratchet and Wheeljack exchanged glances. Sunstreaker wasn't sure what to make of his guardian's reaction to who he played with. What was wrong with playing with the cassette twins? They got along and had fun teasing Ravage and playing rough.

Ratchet crouched down so that he was optic-level with his charge. "Sunstreaker, I don't want you playing with those two," he said flatly.

"Why not?" Sunstreaker frowned.

"They're trouble-makers and I don't want their behavior rubbing off on you."

"That's not fair!" Sunstreaker argued. "They're my friends!"

"Sunstreaker, listen to me," Ratchet told his son. "Rumble and Frenzy are not good younglings."

Sideswipe spoke up. "That's what Firestar said. She said they're bad. I don't think so, though."

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe," Ratchet said. "I want you both to promise me you won't play with those two anymore."

"No!" Sunstreaker stomped one foot. "That's stupid! I'm not gonna stop playin' with them just 'cause you don't like them! They're my friends!"

"Sunstreaker, they're not friends. I don't want you playing with them." Ratchet was firm in what he was telling the yellow twin. "Promise me."

Sunstreaker stomped his foot again and folded his arms over his chest. He closed his mouth tightly, refusing to say anything. Sideswipe, on the other hand, reluctantly promised. He could easily find someone else to play with, maybe finally get Firestar to play with him again. Sunstreaker was the only one being stubborn.

"Sunstreaker," Ratchet said sternly.

"Fine! I promise!"

Ratchet arched an optic ridge, not entirely convinced that Sunstreaker was honestly promising or just saying it so that he would back off. He'd have to trust the little mech for the time being and keep an optic on who his son was playing with. He really did not want Rumble and Frenzy to rub off on Sunstreaker.

Discussion over with, the group started off again towards the Science Institute.

_**

* * *

**_

_**Author's Note:**__ For those curious about the upgrades and what the twins look like now, imagine their G1 forms, just minus any indication of an alt-mode; no tires or headlights, but otherwise just mini-versions of their G1 selves. They're probably about Rumble and Frenzy's size until the next upgrade. _


End file.
